Album: I Am A Bird Now
Artist: Antony & The Johnsons,
Born: Chichester, Sussex
Released: January 2005
Genre: Baroque
Despite Antony Hegarty's very English origins, this record has a strong New York flavour. The cover image is a photo of one of Andy Warhol's superstars, Candy Darling, on her deathbed (like Hegarty, Candy was a transgender performer), while two of the collaborators on the record are New York legends, Lou Reed and Rufus Wainwright (who himself released one of his best albums in 2004, Want Two). Hegarty has proven himself to be an adept musical collaborator over the past decade, working with the likes of Björk and featuring on the brilliant 2008 self-titled debut album by Hercules & Love Affair (check out Blind). I Am A Bird Now was Hegarty's breakthrough album, on the back of winning the Mercury prize, and showcased his accomplished and emotional songwriting and his very unique voice, which has the ghostly quality of Japan's David Sylvian and the dramatic range of David Bowie. Many of the songs are deeply personal and spiritual, with that high-art seriousness (bordering on pretentiousness) that you associate with many New York-based musicians. This makes for a very serious, intense record, with Hegarty not just meditating on death but also chronicling his experiences as a transgender person; certainly not music for the casual listener.
Hope There's Someone is one of several standout tracks on the record, and was released as a single in 2005. The song immediately makes clear this isn't music designed for light-hearted consumption, with Hegarty's multi-tracked harmonising the spiritual backdrop to sombre lyrics about his fears of growing old and dying alone ("Oh, I'm scared of the middle place / between light and nowhere / I don't want to be the one / left in there, left in there"). His songs, full of wonderful piano playing and strings, create that same rarefied atmosphere you find on early Cocteau Twins records. The cello and violin playing on Man Is The Baby is particularly stunning. You Are My Sister is the other single released from the album, featuring a moving vocal performance by Boy George (one of Hegarty's heroes when he was growing up). On the record's second side, the emotions intensify as Hegarty creates the sense of a metamorphosis, from young boy to "bird girl". Wainwright's What Can I Do? makes for a short but compelling cameo, while Reed's input on Fistful Of Love is another highlight. Spiralling is also a majestical moment, with its improvised vocals by freak folk musician Devendra Banhart, while closer Bird Gurl makes for a fitting climax. Doing this blog has pinpointed various previously unseen connections, but one surprising one for me was how Bright Eyes and Antony Hegarty (who released their best albums within just a week of each other) share some important traits; a sophisticated New York "emo" flavour to their music and an increasingly political outlook to their songs, with Hegarty focusing on environmental issues in more recent albums.
Despite Antony Hegarty's very English origins, this record has a strong New York flavour. The cover image is a photo of one of Andy Warhol's superstars, Candy Darling, on her deathbed (like Hegarty, Candy was a transgender performer), while two of the collaborators on the record are New York legends, Lou Reed and Rufus Wainwright (who himself released one of his best albums in 2004, Want Two). Hegarty has proven himself to be an adept musical collaborator over the past decade, working with the likes of Björk and featuring on the brilliant 2008 self-titled debut album by Hercules & Love Affair (check out Blind). I Am A Bird Now was Hegarty's breakthrough album, on the back of winning the Mercury prize, and showcased his accomplished and emotional songwriting and his very unique voice, which has the ghostly quality of Japan's David Sylvian and the dramatic range of David Bowie. Many of the songs are deeply personal and spiritual, with that high-art seriousness (bordering on pretentiousness) that you associate with many New York-based musicians. This makes for a very serious, intense record, with Hegarty not just meditating on death but also chronicling his experiences as a transgender person; certainly not music for the casual listener.
Hope There's Someone is one of several standout tracks on the record, and was released as a single in 2005. The song immediately makes clear this isn't music designed for light-hearted consumption, with Hegarty's multi-tracked harmonising the spiritual backdrop to sombre lyrics about his fears of growing old and dying alone ("Oh, I'm scared of the middle place / between light and nowhere / I don't want to be the one / left in there, left in there"). His songs, full of wonderful piano playing and strings, create that same rarefied atmosphere you find on early Cocteau Twins records. The cello and violin playing on Man Is The Baby is particularly stunning. You Are My Sister is the other single released from the album, featuring a moving vocal performance by Boy George (one of Hegarty's heroes when he was growing up). On the record's second side, the emotions intensify as Hegarty creates the sense of a metamorphosis, from young boy to "bird girl". Wainwright's What Can I Do? makes for a short but compelling cameo, while Reed's input on Fistful Of Love is another highlight. Spiralling is also a majestical moment, with its improvised vocals by freak folk musician Devendra Banhart, while closer Bird Gurl makes for a fitting climax. Doing this blog has pinpointed various previously unseen connections, but one surprising one for me was how Bright Eyes and Antony Hegarty (who released their best albums within just a week of each other) share some important traits; a sophisticated New York "emo" flavour to their music and an increasingly political outlook to their songs, with Hegarty focusing on environmental issues in more recent albums.
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