Grey Tickles, Black Pressure by John Grant

Grey Tickles, Black Pressure, John Grant's third solo album, came out on Bella Union on October 9, 2015, and its title is a two-language joke about getting older and sleeping badly: "grey tickles" is Icelandic for creeping up on middle age, and "black pressure" is the Turkish expression for a nightmare. Grant, the former Czars frontman, said he wanted to get angrier and moodier this time, and that he enjoyed making it more than either of the records before it.

Budgie drums on every track, and there's company at the mic: Tracey Thorn turns up on "Disappointing", the song that reached the countdowns, and Amanda Palmer sings backup on "You & Him". The sound is plush soft rock with a sharp tongue, Grant's big, warm voice gliding through it. It drew wide acclaim, NME counted it among the albums of the year, and it climbed to number 5 on the UK albums chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.