John Grant on North Atlantic Flux festival in Hull

After twenty years in the business, John Grant’s rolodex of musical collaborators spans punk rock heroes, pioneering producers and powerful pop queens like Kylie Minogue. He modestly speaks of “holes” in his musical education, but we’re not buying it. 

When organisers from Hull UK City of Culture 2017 invited him to curate a festival exploring Hull’s Nordic connections, he hesitated – but only for a heartbeat. “I was really flattered, but also worried that [curating] is something that’s difficult to do?” He laughs. “But all I have to do is pick a bunch of great artists that I love, go and hang out, and then watch them play. I mean, the hardest part [of curating] is getting the opportunity to do it! The people in Hull worrying about the logistics are doing all the hard work, so I feel like I would be lying if I said it’s been difficult.”

It turns out that Grant is perfectly placed to examine the musical flux between the twinned cities: the American born musician, formerly of 90s band the Czars, has called Reykjavík home for over five years. Grant’s two most recent solo records Pale Green Ghosts (2013) and Grey Tickles, Black Pressure (2015) found inspiration and fellow collaborators in his new Icelandic neighbourhood, and he even acted as an ambassador for his adoptive city by co-writing Iceland’s 2014 Eurovision entry – that’s how you know you’re a bonafide local.

Grant’s fervent UK fanbase appears equally determined to dub him an honorary Brit, which he describes as “a huge compliment. I’ve been in a love affair with the UK for decades now – I mean, the humour that comes out of your small island is mind-boggling!

“There are three people connected to Hull who I feel really connected to,” he explains. “Cosey Fanni Tutti, Tracey Thorn [of Everything But The Girl, and collaborator on Grant’s single Disappointing] and Lene Lovich, who’s someone I’ve listened to a lot, these past thirty years. Hull is this place that I’ve been to a little, but has inspired some incredible music.”

As a result, the “selfish wish list” of innovative electronica that Grant has curated for North Atlantic Flux encompasses artists from Iceland, Norway and the UK, with thin threads binding the line-up to his own musical history and winding back to Hull’s own harbour. 

Pioneering Icelandic electronica outfit GusGus formed in 1995; they’ve released nine albums and counted even more members. Today the group consists of Daníel Ágúst Haraldsson, Högni Egilsson, and Birgir Þórarinsson – aka Biggi Veira, a close friend of Grant, who co-produced Pale Green Ghosts. “Inviting them was a natural decision for me,” Grant enthuses. “They put on such a great show, and they’re an important part of my history. They had this album, 24/7, and it helped me through a particularly rough time; I listened to it non-stop. One of the things I love about them is that they continue to develop their sound, album to album, becoming better and better sound designers – it's something I aspire to.

“You know, I’ve yet to be disappointed by people I’ve met who have made records that were really important to me,” Grant jokes, and points to Stephen Mallinder as another example of meeting – and working with – an idol. Once a founding member of Sheffield bizarros Cabaret Voltaire, Mallinder’s new band Wrangler (with Tunng’s Phil Winter and powerhouse producer Benge) recently remixed Grant’s track Voodoo Doll, and collaborated with him for Rough Trade Records’ 40th anniversary.

Grant recalls first meeting Mallinder after a Brighton show: “He said he could definitely hear where I was coming from – that was huge for me, because I wanted him to see how much he inspired me through the years. He’s been very gracious, he doesn’t laugh at my love for Cabaret Voltaire!” Grant describes working with Wrangler as “a huge learning experience. I’m sort of a baby when it comes to sound design; you can’t believe how hard it is to get to what you hear in your head. But with people like them around, it’s easier.”

Coincidentally, Mallinder provides the connection with Grant’s next choice: Steve Cobby and Russ Litten’s haunting spoken word collaboration. Cobby, once half of Hull duo Fila Brazillia, is a “beat maker at the top of his game” and has teamed with Mallinder in the past. Litten is a Hullensian author and poet who, in a project tailor-made for the festival, will narrate the consequences of a tragic Atlantic storm in 1968 when 58 local men drowned as three trawlers were wrecked on course for Iceland. “When I listened to what Cobby and Litten are doing, I got really excited,” Grant explains. “That’s why we’re all here: to get to know Hull, to hear the voice of Hull. And these stories, the way Litten tells them is really quite beautiful.”

Completing the first wave of announcements is stellar Norwegian producer and musician Lindstrøm: “He’s amazing – whenever something new comes out I just snap it up. I’m over the moon that he’s agreed to come and play.”

With North Atlantic Flux featuring his favourite musicians, old and new, from each corner of the North Sea, surely Grant feels tempted to step out from the sidelines? “Well, nobody told me not to say anything about it…” he pauses, before annoucing: “But I’m definitely playing!”

What form this will take – collaborative or solo – has yet to be confirmed, but he muses, “It would be good to play Glacier right now, in the midst of everything that’s going on.” His devastating ballad details the everyday struggle for LGBTQ rights and transforms pain into power of mountainous proportions; as ever, John Grant knows exactly what this world needs to hear. He summarises, neatly: “I think you're going to find some new inspiration for yourself, for sure.”