Fans of Antony’s voice are in for a treat on this quiet and intimate collection of new songs. Think Viennese cafe house orchestra and the odd powerful piano ballad and you get the picture.
‘The Crying Light’ calls up faded opulence, dusty velvet curtains and a small orchestra discretely entertaining its world weary clientele. Antony’s voice displays the same yearning, sadness and moderate sprinkling of hope as on previous recordings, but this time the backing musicians fall right behind their vocalist and don’t stray.
Don’t expect any of the rock touches that guest musicians like Lou Reed provided on Antony’s previous album ‘I’m A Bird Now’. Stylistically, ‘The Crying Light’ is a more homogenous affair. It’s strings, piano and acoustic guitar with the musicians keeping the backing fairly minimal.
Occasionally, Antony foregoes all accompanyment and lets his voice carry the song, as on ‘Dust And Water’. The result is intensely fragile and disconcertingly vulnerable - Like an oyster stripped of its shell. It makes you realise how much armour the instruments add on an average Johnsons track.
Antony’s voice is at its strongest when he is turning to piano ballads. ‘Another World’, the title track of his most recent EP, is easily the ‘poppiest’ moment on the album thanks to a confident performance by Antony and a straight, powerful melody.
Other piano dominated tracks like ‘Daylight And The Sun’ or ‘Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground’ are more minimal affairs with Antony branching out into the territory of avantgarde composers like Alva Noto & Ryuchi Sakamoto, Sylvain Chauveau or William Basinski.
All in all, ‘The Crying Light’ is a move away from the rock stage towards a more austere, chamber orchestra sound. While rock gives Antony’s voice a sleazy, late night feel, the new sound gives him an almost pastoral air. Mind you, his lyrics are far from peaceful. His songs conjure up an image of frozen outdoors populated by ghosts rather than that of lush pastures.
Call it what you like: Pastoral, cool, minimal - It’s a style that suits Antony’s drama laden voice very well. If this is a once off or a direction he’ll explore further on future releases remains to be seen.
For a different side of the artist, Check out Antony’s ‘Another World’ EP from last October for some non-album tracks that rock and shiver quite unlike anything on ‘The Crying Light’. I’d recommend the bone-rattling R&B of ‘Shake That Devil’ and the Gothic ‘Sing For Me’. Both tracks did not make it onto the album and are well worth downloading.
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