For fun, Angie taped a cutout of Antony’s
face from some distributor’s salesbook
to my computer tower. Every time I glance to my right
I see the protagonist in full
make-up; eye-shadow, lipstick, rouge, and bleached hair.
It could be theater or Bowie, but I think it’s
just Antony being Antony.
As he sings on the third track, “One
day I’ll grow up to be a girl/For today I am a child/For today I am a boy.”
The
10 songs on his second and newly released full-length, “I
Am a Bird
Now,” are built around piano and Antony’s
distinctive voice, which resides
somewhere between the blues, childlike-wonder, and Jeff
Buckley. Strings,
occasional light horns, and the traditional rhythm section
fill in the
rest, but it’s really the vocals that are the highlight.
Guests
on the CD include four singular voices - Lou Reed, Devendra
Banhart,
Boy George, & Rufus Wainwright - all of which Antony
easily eclipses. His
vocal shadow is cast so wide that on the CD’s first
listen I didn’t notice
anyone else singing. The liner notes credit a Marc Almond
(Soft Cell) poem
for the title of “Fistfull of Love,” and
I hear Antony’s storylines as the
awkward adolescent antithesis to Almond’s grown-up,
seedy themes. Word is
that Lou Reed is prone to tears when attending Antony’s
live performances.
I’m happy just to hear the innocent sing.
Antony
in Real Audio: "Hope
There's Someone"
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