Antony and The Johnsons – The Crying Light
by Bambi Weavil
Antony and The Johnsons
The Crying Light
Official Site: http://www.antonyandthejohnsons.com/
Official MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/antonyandthejohnsons
Release Date: January 20, 2009
Trying to pinpoint or box-in musically Antony and The Johnsons is very difficult. The easiest comparison is a experimental cross between Tori Amos, Bjork and Judy Garland combined – but it doesn’t distill the power of their music. The Crying Light is an exploration of his relationship with the natural world, the music is haunting, intimate, magical, captivating, artistic, poetic and challenging to you the listener, and to those who make music for a living….this is a compelling album.
“Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground” reminds me of gloomy yet sweet poems about death in early American literature. “Epilepsy Is Dancing” has some incredible lyrics: “I cry “glitter is love!”
My eyes pinned inside
With green jewels
Hanging like Christmas stars
From a golden vein”
This album reminds me so much of a audio landscape of The Wizard of Oz meets Alice In Wonderland. “The Crying Light” seems to be the most revealing, a song wrapped around identity. “Another World” is another song about departure that could easily be referenced to going into the afterworld as much as it’s about a vanishing landscape.
“Aeon” seems to take a different path than most songs on The Crying Light, with more rock emphasis on the guitar as the leading accompaniment. “Dust and Water” returns the album back to the intimate, emotional front, however, there’s something about this song that would make it a interesting remix if it were a African tribal-drumming type song. “Everglade” seems like the perfect conclusion to a call to action to the return of “nature” with the lyrics: “Then I stop / My body stops crying for home / My limbs stop weeping for home.”
This album takes more than one spin to understand and appreciate, the indy rock borderline experimental opera/emo-type landscape that Antony and The Johnsons create for themselves as their identifying sound.
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