Antony & The Johnsons – The Crying Light

One of the strongest voices of our time is back, Antony Hegarty (and his Johnsons) released the highly waited third album “The Crying Light” and as the title shows, this is the most enlightened album Antony ever wrote. After winning a Mercury Prize with “I Am A Bird Now”, collaborating with Icelandic goddess Björk on her album “Volta” (in the songs ‘Dull Flame Of Desire’ and ‘My Juvenile’), and after being the vocalist of one of the most danced songs of 2008 (he worked on Hercules & Love Affair’s single ‘Blind’ as well as on other songs on their debut album) Antony returns with ten new songs of his own world. “The Crying Light” starts with a great, melancholic song called ‘Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground’ followed be one of the best songs in the album, the poppy ‘Epilepsy Is Dancing’ where Antony pleads “cut me in quadrants, leave me in the corner” with a joy we never heard on his songs. The whole album follows up between Antony’s characteristically sad love songs, moments of almost happiness that makes you want to tap your foot on the floor or clap along (the bluesy ‘Kiss My Name’ and ‘Aeon’ a rock song that could have been written by Lou Reed) and an immense environmental care (remarkable on ‘Another World’)probably transmitted by Björk. Antony’s never been as decided and confident as in this third album and that’s a brilliant thing. It’s still soon to say, but I’m quite sure that “The Crying Light” will be listed as one of the best albums in 2009. Below there’s the beautiful video for ‘Epilepsy Is Dancing’