The Crying Light
Antony and the Johnsons
Score:89
Reviewer: Ed Butler
Label: Secretly Canadian (USA), Rough Trade (UK), Spunk (Australia)
Reviewed: Jan 19th '09, Released:2009
Antony and the Johnsons’ third album. After all, previous effort I Am a Bird Now was the first time most people had heard that stunning warble that Antony Hegarty possesses. However, with the shock of the new gone, many will automatically think that the songs they are hearing are poorer, which would be wrong. While still guided by the unmistakable, golden voice of Antony, The Crying Light sees Antony and the Johnsons spreading their wings and expanding their reach. It’s a beautiful, subtle transformation.
Hegarty’s history on the New York scene has nurtured in him an abiding love of showtunes, a love that sporadically poked its head through his intensely personal last album. However, he always knew better than to apply his considerable talents to merely paying homage to his childhood favourites. For every burst of cabaret-style horns on ‘Fistful of Love’ there was a sharp turn of experimentalism, such as the swirling pianos that closed ‘Hope There’s Someone’.
On The Crying Light, Hegarty has allowed his showtune passion to shine through a little more. The overwhelming air of melancholy, however, remains. This is perhaps a touch surprising, as lyrically, Antony seems in a better place. At the very least, the album appears to be less about a man, alone on a stage, singing away his demons. Instead, this outing sees him wrestling with broader, externalized issues, such as bemoaning the state of the environment on ‘Everglade’.
Antony Hegarty has proven that he is a talent who will remain, that I Am a Bird Now was no flash in the pan. By exorcising himself on his previous album of his most intensely personal demons, he has allowed himself to stretch out in technicolour beauty. When Hegarty grants himself the luxury of expansiveness, to hear his amazing natural instrument is nothing short of revelatory. To listen to The Crying Light is to listen to the coming-of-age of a truly unique talent. While still guided by the unmistakable, golden voice of Antony, The Crying Light sees Antony and the Johnsons spreading their wings and expanding their reach. It’s a beautiful, subtle transformation.
