John Grant The Art of the Lie
Released Jun 14, 2024 Bella Union
Consensus forming 3 professional reviews Updated Oct 3, 2026
Broadly positive consensus
Consensus is still forming across 3 professional reviews. John Grant's The Art of the Lie opens like a confessional cabaret, a record where 80s dance-pop gloss collides with intimate wrenching lyricism to revealing effect.
How ChoruScore worksCritics' Top Tracks
The songs critics returned to most
Father
3 critic mentions
“We walk into those rooms where we once laughed and played / It’s all empty now but it feels like it was yesterday” — The Line of Best Fit
Marbles
1 critic mention
“The poise of a newborn giraffe / My moods are quite clearly unchoreographed” — The Line of Best Fit
All That School For Nothing
3 critic mentions
“I lost my patience several hours ago / Around the time I was in utero” — The Line of Best Fit
Full critic consensus
John Grant's The Art of the Lie opens like a confessional cabaret, a record where 80s dance-pop gloss collides with intimate wrenching lyricism to revealing effect. Across three professional reviews the consensus score sits at 80/100, and critics repeatedly point to a dynamic interplay between mordant humour and deep-seated pain that makes the album both witty and harrowing.
Reviewers consistently single out the record's best songs as proof of that duality. “All That School For Nothing” and “It’s a Bitch” supply twitchy, synth-laced hooks and brazen satire, while “Father” and “Daddy” descend into torch-song confession, addressing parenthood and childhood trauma with raw, vocoder-tinged intimacy. Several critics also praise the seven-minute melancholy of “Marbles” as the album's emotional apex. Across three professional reviews, critics agree the production leans into electronic and synth influences without blunting Grant's theatrical, grandiose compassion.
Some reviewers frame The Art of the Lie as a demanding, inward-facing work rather than an easy gateway: the humour-versus-pain tension is central, and where upbeat surfaces land sharp comic punches, they often conceal brutal truths about sexuality, religion, and family. The critical consensus suggests this is a rewarding, if occasionally wrenching, addition to Grant's catalog that balances pop craft with diaristic excavation. For readers wondering whether The Art of the Lie is worth listening to, the combined verdict from professional reviews positions it as a standout, nuanced collection whose best tracks - notably “All That School For Nothing”, “It’s a Bitch” and “Father” - demonstrate why Grant remains a compelling narrator of inner turmoil and grand emotional gestures.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
All That School For Nothing
Marbles
Father
Mother and Son
Twistin Scriptures
Meek AF
It's a Bitch
Daddy
The Child Catcher
Laura Lou
Zeitgeist
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 3 critics who reviewed this album
Ho
Critic's Take
In her vivid read of John Grant’s The Art of the Lie, Lucy O'Toole holds up the album’s best songs as study in contrasts - the witty, earth-shakingly funky “All That School For Nothing” and “It’s a Bitch” versus the devastating, vocoder-centred “Father”. The review lands on a warm, admiring note: Grant walks us through darkness with mordant humour and big-hearted theatricality.
Key Points
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The best song work balances witty funk and devastating intimacy, with “Father” and “All That School For Nothing” exemplifying that mix.
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The album’s core strengths are its mix of humour and trauma, sweeping synth production, and pointed political commentary.
Themes
Critic's Take
John Grant has always made charm out of contradiction, and on The Art of the Lie those tensions are sharper than ever. The opener, “All That School For Nothing”, and the sassy “It’s a Bitch” supply the twitchy, '80s-tinged hits, while the devastating “Father” and the elegiac “Daddy” pull the record into darker, more intimate territory. Lisa Wright’s review relishes how Grant can move from a piss-taking skit like “Twistin Scriptures” to gutting confession, making these the best tracks on The Art of the Lie for listeners already sold on his world. This is not an easy gateway album - it is a deeper excavation, rewarding and often wrenching.
Key Points
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The best song is "Father" because the reviewer calls it a heartbreaking pseudo-duet with potent lyrical confession.
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The album's core strength is its ruthless duality, balancing twitchy '80s-tinged hits with moments of profound emotional devastation.
Themes
Critic's Take
John Grant’s The Art of the Lie finds its best tracks in the uneasy blend of wit and sorrow, where upbeat surfaces conceal brutal truths. The opener “All That School For Nothing” and the synth-stabbing “It’s a Bitch” are tongue-in-cheek pop that land punches, while the seven-minute, aching “Marbles” provides the album’s melancholy apex. The suite about parenthood - notably “Father” and “Mother and Son” - is where Grant’s diaristic lyricism pays off, the songs excavating repressed childhood trauma with real emotional force. This is an album that balances brutal comedy and desolate torch-song grandeur, and those best tracks show exactly why Grant remains one of modern music’s most compelling narrators.
Key Points
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The best song moments balance witty, upbeat surfaces with brutal lyrical truths, exemplified by "Marbles" and "All That School For Nothing".
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The album's strengths are diaristic lyricism, rich electronic production, and a persistent political and familial thematic core.