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John Greaves — Chanson d'Automne
(Dark Companion DC031, 2025, CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2026-03-09

Chanson d'Automne Cover art

My last encounter with John Greaves, aside from the recent Henry Now album, was Life Size back in 2018. Chanson d'Automne carries on from there with fifteen tracks that approach songwriting more in the tradition of chamber music than pop, rock, or folk. Only two songs were written by others — one by Leonard Cohen and one by Georges Brassens — and on his own compositions, Greaves wrote the lyrics on only two. The remainder feature lyrics by Chris Cutler, Peter Blegvad, Paul Verlaine, and Guillaume Apollinaire, in both English and French. In addition to singing, Greaves plays piano, and his only accompaniment comes from a viola (Laurent Valéro) and violin (Mirabelle Gilis). This intimate recital presents Greaves as worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as John Cale and Leonard Cohen as a serious songwriter outside the confines of popular trends, and is not intended for dancing or even casual listening. True, Chanson d'Automne is not exciting in the typical sense, but when you’re in the mood to get cozy with a real artist, it has a lot to offer.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): John Greaves

More info
http://darkcompanionrecords.bandcamp.com/album/chansons-dautomne

 

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