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ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS, "I AM A BIRD NOW"
A voice as beautiful, intense and unsettling as Antony's was bound toinspire an equally weird and devoted cult fan base. In the six yearssince the release of his debut album on Durtro, the legions of Antonydevotees have gradually increased, thanks to countless residencies andmonthly performances at NYC art venues such as Joe's Pub and KnittingFactory, expanding to include the patronage of Lou Reed and LaurieAnderson.Secretly Canadian
Antony's album was reissued on Secretly Canadian last year,Devendra Banhart included "The Lake" on his epochal, scene-defining Golden Apples of the Suncompilation, and Antony appeared in a couple of high-profile guestappearances on albums by Lou Reed and Rufus Wainwright. It seems thatthe androgynous singer-songwriter is poised on the edge of abreakthrough success, making the long-overdue release of his secondfull-length album a timely event, to say the least. I must admit hereto being a full-fledged member of Antony's cult, having flown to NYCseveral times to witness his live performances (after being tippedabout the debut album on The Brain so many years ago). Because of myunhealthy Antony obsession, my hopes for his sophomore album wereperhaps too high, and it took a few spins of I Am a Bird Now touncover its many treasures. It's a much more pop-oriented album thanthe first, with a decidedly less somber outlook. Gone are the myriadesoteric lyrical allusions to Biblical apocalypse and the transcendentqualities of pain and sorrow. In their place, Antony's centralpreoccupation seems to be physical and spiritual transformation, bothin literal terms (androgyny, transvestism, transsexuality) as well asfiguratively (man into bird, the transmigration of the soul). The albumworks as the conceptual twin sister to Lou Reed's 1972 Transformer,and may indeed eventually prove to be as classic and influential. Onthe whole, the music is very much more upbeat than the funereal jazz ofthe first album, with bright arrangements of piano, horns and strings.Several tracks take advantage of extraordinarily well-executed vocalmultitracking, most notably on the opener "Hope There's Someone," inwhich Antony's falsetto chorus is multiplied and harmonized tospine-tingling effect, leading into the song's lush crescendo,featuring an angelic choir of Antonys in a resounding lamentation thatreaches into the heavens. "Man is the Baby" has been a live favoritefor years now, a haunting, fragile plea for tolerance that is easilyone of the most memorable tracks on the album. Then, of course, thereare the much-vaunted duets and guest appearances. "You Are My Sister,"which features an unexpected vocal by Boy George, sounds like thereuniting of artistic brethren, protege and mentor. Other pairingsdon't fare quite as well: the track featuring Rufus Wainwright is fartoo short, and feels more like an outtake from Rufus' Want Twoalbum than an Antony song; Devendra's warbling on "Spiralling" isprecious, but incongruous with the rest of the song. These are minorquibbles, as the majority of the songs on I Am a Bird Now havethe feel of a classic song suite, and are the perfect entree' forAntony to achieve a wider audience. The album is incredibly short atonly 35 minutes, making me suspect that this is somewhat of atransitional effort. Next time out, I'm hoping that Antony will includesome of the great cover songs that he invariably performs in his liveshows - Nina Simone's "Be My Husband" or Billie Holiday's "StrangeFruit," to name a couple. Antony's singularly evocative interpretationsof those classic vocal jazz songs, as well as his originalcompositions, leave no doubt whatever that he is a uniquely talentedvocalist, and one of the most compelling artists of our time.
Antony's album was reissued on Secretly Canadian last year,Devendra Banhart included "The Lake" on his epochal, scene-defining Golden Apples of the Suncompilation, and Antony appeared in a couple of high-profile guestappearances on albums by Lou Reed and Rufus Wainwright. It seems thatthe androgynous singer-songwriter is poised on the edge of abreakthrough success, making the long-overdue release of his secondfull-length album a timely event, to say the least. I must admit hereto being a full-fledged member of Antony's cult, having flown to NYCseveral times to witness his live performances (after being tippedabout the debut album on The Brain so many years ago). Because of myunhealthy Antony obsession, my hopes for his sophomore album wereperhaps too high, and it took a few spins of I Am a Bird Now touncover its many treasures. It's a much more pop-oriented album thanthe first, with a decidedly less somber outlook. Gone are the myriadesoteric lyrical allusions to Biblical apocalypse and the transcendentqualities of pain and sorrow. In their place, Antony's centralpreoccupation seems to be physical and spiritual transformation, bothin literal terms (androgyny, transvestism, transsexuality) as well asfiguratively (man into bird, the transmigration of the soul). The albumworks as the conceptual twin sister to Lou Reed's 1972 Transformer,and may indeed eventually prove to be as classic and influential. Onthe whole, the music is very much more upbeat than the funereal jazz ofthe first album, with bright arrangements of piano, horns and strings.Several tracks take advantage of extraordinarily well-executed vocalmultitracking, most notably on the opener "Hope There's Someone," inwhich Antony's falsetto chorus is multiplied and harmonized tospine-tingling effect, leading into the song's lush crescendo,featuring an angelic choir of Antonys in a resounding lamentation thatreaches into the heavens. "Man is the Baby" has been a live favoritefor years now, a haunting, fragile plea for tolerance that is easilyone of the most memorable tracks on the album. Then, of course, thereare the much-vaunted duets and guest appearances. "You Are My Sister,"which features an unexpected vocal by Boy George, sounds like thereuniting of artistic brethren, protege and mentor. Other pairingsdon't fare quite as well: the track featuring Rufus Wainwright is fartoo short, and feels more like an outtake from Rufus' Want Twoalbum than an Antony song; Devendra's warbling on "Spiralling" isprecious, but incongruous with the rest of the song. These are minorquibbles, as the majority of the songs on I Am a Bird Now havethe feel of a classic song suite, and are the perfect entree' forAntony to achieve a wider audience. The album is incredibly short atonly 35 minutes, making me suspect that this is somewhat of atransitional effort. Next time out, I'm hoping that Antony will includesome of the great cover songs that he invariably performs in his liveshows - Nina Simone's "Be My Husband" or Billie Holiday's "StrangeFruit," to name a couple. Antony's singularly evocative interpretationsof those classic vocal jazz songs, as well as his originalcompositions, leave no doubt whatever that he is a uniquely talentedvocalist, and one of the most compelling artists of our time. samples:
