Peter Doherty - Grace/Wastelands
Peter Doherty - Grace/Wastelands returns to vinyl with the 2009 debut solo album from the Libertines and Babyshambles co-frontman. Produced by Stephen Street at London's Olympic Studios, the record gave Doherty a chance to step outside the identity of either band and present a more restrained, reflective side of his songwriting.
Where the Libertines had become synonymous with urgency, tension and ragged guitar interplay, and Babyshambles often leaned into a similarly loose rock aesthetic, Grace/Wastelands is more measured. The production leaves space around the songs, bringing Doherty's voice, phrasing and lyrics to the front. Acoustic textures, piano, understated strings and carefully arranged backing create a record that is less about momentum and more about atmosphere and character.
The album also highlights the literary quality that has always run through Doherty's writing. His songs move between romance, regret, memory, self-mythology and street-level observation, often balancing vulnerability with dry humour. Heard as a solo statement, the record offers a useful contrast to the more combustible energy of his band work and remains a distinctive part of his catalogue.
This Parlophone edition is pressed on 140g Black Vinyl and is scheduled for release on 2 October 2026. It is a straightforward new pressing of an album that captures Doherty at a point where his songwriting was being reframed away from band mythology and toward something more personal and deliberately understated.
Several of the album's strongest moments work because of that restraint. Doherty's melodies are allowed to unfold without being pushed into an obvious rock-band climax, and the arrangements often feel closer to chamber pop, folk and classic singer-songwriter records than to the scruffier guitar music with which he was most closely associated. As a result, Grace/Wastelands remains one of the clearest examples of his songwriting standing apart from the mythology surrounding The Libertines and Babyshambles.
