Antony and the Johnsons
The Crying Light
Released January 19th on Secretly Canadian Records
Antony Hegarty is an English-born singer/songwriter, composer and visual artist, who as a teenager was influenced by British synth pop, Boy George, Otis Redding and Nina Simone, among many others. At the age of six, he moved to Amsterdam with his family, and then to San Francisco in 1981. In 1990, he moved to New York to attend New York University, where he founded the drag theater/performance art collective, Blacklips, with Johanna Constantine.
The birth of his backing band the Johnsons, came in 1997, featuring a group of musicians he had scouted to work on an album. They began playing more frequently a couple years later, at esteemed venues such as the Knitting Factory and Joe’s Pub in New York City. Current 93’s David Tibet, an experimental British musician, had heard the recording (which would become the self-titled debut album) and offered to release it on his Durtro record label. The follow-up album, I Am A Bird Now
Aside from working with the Johnsons, Antony has also worked with a number of other groups, including Hercules and Love Affair, Lou Reed, Sharon Jones, Bjork, and even Yoko Ono.
The third full-length, The Crying Light, which was released earlier this year, peaked at #1 on the European Billboard charts.
This album’s been on my iPod nearly all year, but it wasn’t until recently that I really gave this album a listen. I wish I would have given it a chance a long time ago, because I was completely stunned after making it through the first listen. It’s quickly climbing up the ranks on my best of the year list, and I now understand why nearly every other music blog and magazine out there have been listing it as one of the year’s best for several months. You better believe you’ll be seeing this album on every list at the end of the year, as well as mine.
Other Artists I’d Recommend: Rufus Wainwright, CocoRosie, My Brightest Diamond