Big Special and John Grant – Stay Down, Lazarus Review

On paper, the pairing of Big Special and John Grant appears fascinating. It stays so when they get in the studio together and create Stay Down, Lazarus. Whether there is a relation to Lazarus of Bethany is not immediately clear. Still, such is the punchy thrill of heading into a collaboration between two artists with the same values and severely different methods of explaining their thoughts. Grant heads for the chamber charms, still holding them firm in a generational pursuit of what can still be valued, while Big Special cracks the thin veneer of a society holding itself together. Their efforts last year were resounding, sincerely strong albums with lots to give and even more to learn from. Their collaboration on Stay Down, Lazarus, confirms their talents and their pool of skills is made good on.  

It does not matter what interpretation we bring to Stay Down, Lazarus, not initially. What matters is its sound, and what a sound it makes. An unexpected blur of the charming bluntness of Big Special and the whirring intensities found in those darker pockets of Grant’s latest work. A collaborative effort exploring each artist’s best moments, the electronic fuzz around those vocal impressions a fascinating, well-earned and implemented choice. One instrumental choice enters, and another piece of vocal work leaves. Big Special and Grant is very much the mix yearned for here. If one is singing, the other is meddling with instrumental vibrancies, a melting pot of noise and sound which is held together by the percussion, more than anything. A necessary blowout where companionship and camaraderie is the key line through it, such a necessity when it feels like there is nothing to hang on to.  

Stay Down, Lazarus, nails it. Grant and Big Special strike up their friendship once more and lay it bare on a track all about holding firm during darker times. There is no need to stay down as Lazarus does, we invent our new beginnings. That rewiring of the brain so many try in the New Year is what features here, but it does not take the turn of a clock or calendar to make an effort against continuing strife. Music is, more and more, finding itself with its back against the wall and these volatile swings, the cat scratches of a flailing beast fighting its way out of the corner, are so necessary. Stay Down, Lazarus, contains the raw emotional turns expected of a collaborating duo fighting for the same cause.  

Their fight does not stop with this collaboration. Its influence will hopefully spread, and move on through the fields of those who are so far undisturbed by this need for a fight against whatever cause keeps them down. Big Special and Grant have tremendous energy with one another, no wonder the former opened for the latter on tour for The Art of the Lie. Bold punches are not just a necessity but are in demand. They have been for years and, thankfully, this collaboration pulls none. A barrage of openness, and a sense of change needed but a lack of knowing how. But the first steps are always the harshest and for the work heard on Stay Down, Lazarus, the intent is far stronger than the outcome.