Archive for the ‘Antony and The Johnsons’ Category
Antony and the Johnsons – The Crying Light Review
Antony Hegarty, with the face of a saint and the voice of an angel, this week releases The Crying Light on Secretly Canadian, a title that prompts me to mistake it for The Crying Game! His follow-up to 2005’s triumphant I am a Bird Now (winner of the Mercury Music Prize), it is an assortment of immensely dramatic, emotional and symphonic songs, taking on his familiar themes of loneliness, estrangement, and the disappearing natural world.
The deeply personal lyrics are just emotional enough to do Antony’s warbling bird of a voice justice. From the understated “Her Eyes are Underneath the Ground”, enriched by intriguing harmonies and clarinet, to the syncopation of the up-tempo “Kiss My Name”, Antony and the Johnsons do not take any short-cuts with their orchestrations or with the intensity. The current line-up includes Julia Kent, Maxim Moston, Jeff Langston, Rob Moose, Parker Kindred, Thomas Bartlett, Kevin Barker, and Doug Wieselman.
In “Epilepsy is Dancing”, acoustic guitar and piano bob and weave, tangling and untangling, pulling and teasing with tasteful jazz drumming. “Cut me in quadrants / leave me in the corner,” Antony trills as dancing woodwinds build to a crescendo. “One Dove” conjures underwater visions, swimming in guitar and a gentle bass line. In “Kiss My Name”, weak lyrics trip over the syncopated piano as the string section practices its scales. Antony comments on the state of the planet in “Another World”, celebrating its inherent majesty. “Daylight kisses everything she sees” in “Daylight and the Sun”, matched by foreboding strings and screaming piano to fuel a passionate ode to creation.
“The Crying Light” is incredibly hymn-like, and Antony’s voice is most like an instrument here. He sings about secrecy and the “courage to receive love”, offering a message for the transgendered: “I was born to represent you / to carve your face into the back of the sun”.
“Aeon” is a love song stripped naked. Its guitar invokes Jeff Buckley’s ghost in its forlornness, and harp and strings clamor to compete with Antony’s mighty articulations. “Let’s take our power back,” he sings. “Dust and Water” is the most sacred in feeling, and in it Antony chants like a Gregorian monk, the words pouring out of his mouth like liquid. “Everglade” is a jumble of horns and piccolo, the most classical of the included tracks. At times it seems that the clarinet and Antony’s vocal chords have become one.
As sad as these songs may seem at first – stained by sorrow and alienation – a current of hope runs through each crescendo and every vibrato. It is not listening for the faint of heart.
Antony and the Johnsons play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto on February 17.
MP3:
Antony and the Johnsons – Epilepsy is Dancing
Antony and the Johnsons – One Dove
Buy at:
Amazon
AWmusic’s Top Songs of 2008 pt3: #26-50
Onto the top 50! These lists take long to do. To finish my list today or tomorrow hmmm. Again 10 word description limit.Previously:
Part 1 #76-100
Part 2 #51-75
Next in the series:
Part 4: #1-25
#26 Teen Creeps by No Age (myspace/live)
I’m feeling regretful of not including Nouns in my list.
#27 Eraser by No Age (video/live)
Can be #26 (tied), both are equally good.
#28 Feel The Love by Cut Copy (myspace/live)
“All the girls I’ve known are crying” Conceited but catchy.
#29 Bare Feet On Wet Grip Tape by Chad VanGaalen (myspace)
Soft Airplane’s most accessible song.
#30 God? By The Dodos (myspace)
“Oh God, where’d you go?” Agnosticism at its finest?
#31 Ottoman by Vampire Weekend (myspace)
At least we got this song from a shitty movie.
#32 Beat (Health, Life and Fire) by Thao Nguyen With The Get Down Stay Down (myspace/live)
Upon listening to this track, I’ve become a big fan.
#33 Heart of Chambers by Beach House (myspace/video)
My favorite song off Devotion.
#34 Dying Is Fine by Ra Ra Riot (myspace/video-ep version)
Sounds emo without reference to this poem.
#35 Hitten by Those Dancing Days (myspace/video)
All girl indie pop bands ftw.
#36 Let’s All Sleep Together by Team Genius (myspace)
Orgies ftw. (All girl orgies ftw?)
#37 For Emma by Bon Iver (myspace/live)
This song is simple but captures the atmosphere of loneliness.
#38 The Modern Leper by Frightened Rabbit (myspace/live)
“You must be a masochist, to love a modern leper”
#39 Rabid Bits of Time by Chad Van Gaalen
Beautifully sung.
#40 Winter ’05 by Ra Ra Riot
This song makes Winter depressing. Sad in general.
#41 Agoraphobia by Deerhunter (myspace)
“Cover me, comfort me” is stuck in my head.
#42 Skeleton Man by The Evangelicals (myspace/live)
“When someone loves you very much, you’re fucked”
#43 Why Do You You Let Me Stay Here? By She and Him (myspace/video)
Fuck you Ben Gibbard!…oh I meant congrats.
#44 Move by Cansei De Ser Sexy (myspace/video)
Another catchy CSS track.
#45 Another World by Antony and The Johnsons (myspace/video)
Antony apparently doesn’t think much of us. Still beautiful though.
#46 Uncalibrated by Bridges and Powerlines (myspace/video)
This song puts the power into powerpop.
#47 Shut Up And Let Me Go by The Ting Tings (myspace/video)
The Ting Tings are a guilty pleasure.
#48 Poison Dart by The Bug ft. Warrior Queen (myspace/video)
My introduction to The Bug. I was amazed.
#49 My Year in Lists by Los Campesinos (myspace/video)
“Send me stationery to make me horny” Mail-sex ftw?
#50 I Hate Dell by Oldfolks Home (myspace)
Dell pissed off the wrong guy.
Antony and The Johnsons – Another World EP
I received a copy of Antony and The Johnsons’ Another World EP, seemingly unsure if I should review it. It’s definitely different from my normal musical appetites but it would be a big waste if it laid there on top of my ever growing stack of unopened CDs.
Antony and the Johnsons are a band originating out of Brooklyn, New York but were able to win the Mercury (the UK’s prize for top album of the year) in 2005 to some controversy e.g. not actually being British etc etc.
That’s actually how I heard about Antony and the Johnsons. I’m a Wikipedia freak so I was accustomed to reading of “who” they were but not really checking out their sound.
I’m really having trouble categorizing Antony and the Johnsons for the passerbys, it’s minimalist soul as I would put it. **I just learned that lead singer Antony Hegarty contributed to the odd Hercules and Love Affair disc that was held in high regard with critics. I think after switching back and forth between the artists, the amount of appreciation grew (especially when I called Hercules and Love Affair freakin’ strange).
Anyway the EP begins with “Another World” the title track features slight piano playing with Hegarty’s deep soulful voice that could make you cry. It’s a very simplistic song musically but I must say I’m very impressed with the vocals. Speaking of some funny things lyrically, “I need another world, this one is nearly gone” won’t be this blog’s theme song no matter how bad you find this blog to be.
I would say this 5-song EP is very solid, I’m impressed but not to the point where I’m overly amazed but I “guess” I understand where the critics at PopMatters and Pitchfork are coming from, each awarding 8 out of 10 (on a much harder scale as well).
It’s decent, potentially worth checking out if you like the single Another World. I have no particular background information on other records clearly, so that’s for you to decide. Other songs seem to add the same reverb, subtle in nature and sometimes adding in instruments in an intricate pattern that can make you stray away from the actual song.
I’ll give it a 3.8 out of 5. I like it just not willing to saying it’s great.
Another World by Antony and The Johnsons
