Antony & The Johnsons
The Crying Light
Rough Trade
It's been nearly four years since the operatic tones of Antony & The Johnsons breakthrough album I Am Bird Now took the music world by storm - well, the Mercury Music loving crowd at least. The Crying Light is the belated follow up, building on that success with confidence and style and again pushing forward the boundaries of popular music.
In name alone, "The Crying Light" gives a pretty clear idea of what to expect. Openers Her Eyes Are Underneath the Ground, Epilepsy Is Dancing and One Dove set the tone - with mournful, haunting vocals over piano and strings creating ethereal soundscapes reminiscent of the dreamy pop of the Cocteau Twins or This Mortal Coil. This is visual music, haunting and narrative - with suggestions of love, loss, life and death ...wait a minute, isn't that what everyone's talking about at the moment?
It's not all doom and gloom, and as early as Kiss My Name there's a chink of light at the end of the tunnel, as a more upbeat piano lifts the mood - accompanied by soaring strings and shuffling drums. It's back to the blues for the guitar-led title track, before lead single Another World brings the mood down again - as well as making for one of the more disappointing tracks here, plodding slowly along and highlighting the essentially straightforward method behind the magic of this album.
Thematically the songs are very consistent, giving a soundtrack feeling to the record - which seems built around centerpiece Daylight and The Sun, which by the time it arrives sound like a reprise itself, swelling beautifully and floating over piano and strings. Touching and melancholic, this record continues along the strikingly original path forged by the debut and should certainly cement the reputation of Anthony Hegarty as a creative force.
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21st Jan 2009 - Tumblr
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