Antony (of the Johnsons) has always been a confrontational and radical queer voice.
From her self-titled debut to her Mercury Award winning spotlight moment (2005’s ‘I Am A Bird Now) she expressed painfully intimate woes of gender transformation and exploration of feminine identity whilst paying homage to a host of queer icons. Jesus – Lou Reed, Boy George and Rufus Wainwright on one fucking album?
Following a newly found fame, Antony’s focuses evolved to encompass an ancient spiritual concern with Mother Earth – from the grandiose chamber laments of ‘The Crying Light’ to the earthy, almost folk-like ‘Swanlights’ LP.
ANOHNI sees Antony radically switch sound worlds whilst maintaining her urges for environmental protest. ‘4 DEGREES’ is the first track to surface. Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke combine singular electronic worlds to create her platform – bombastic horns, pounding snare beats and sickly string pads. Think ‘Hounds of Love’ meets ‘Volta’ era Bjork.
‘It’s only 4 degrees, I wanna see this world, I wanna see it boil … all those tiny creatures, I wanna see them burn.’
‘4 Degrees’ is a call to arms, a requiem to global warming. Lyrical urgency is reflected in Antony’s new compositional choices – out are the pianos and the strings; in are the sharpest and most modern electronics to hand.
Her collaboration with electronic artists is nothing new. The Hercules and Love Affair classic ‘Blind’ is considered a pinnacle of modern dance music and is a constant in East London dance-pits. But this is a different beast. Oneohtrix Point Never is a radically experimental electronic/noise artist, 2015’s ‘Garden of Delete’ a meticulously crafted masterpiece of fierce emotion and exploration. He also produced Bjork’s latest. Hudson Mohawke produced ‘YEEZUS’. Kanye fucking West.
‘HOPELESSNESS’, the full-length ANOHNI LP, is set to drop later this year. For now, let’s be grateful to be alive at the same time as Antony Hegarty – a most important queer voice.
