Nick Talbot, who has died unexpectedly aged 37, was a singer, songwriter and producer who performed as Gravenhurst. His four albums for Warp Records between 2000 and 2012 – especially The Ghost in Daylight (2012) – brought him critical acclaim and a worldwide cult following. Talbot delved deeper than most songwriters: he said that he sought to find romance in the grimier side of life, and his work journeyed into the dark heart of the human condition – he even sang about Auschwitz – to create music of humbling beauty.
However, onstage he could be hilarious. An outward misanthropy concealed a warm and engaging character with a huge intellect, prone to expounding on anything from Jack the Ripper to his unlikely obsession with the heavy metal band Iron Maiden.
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