Antony Hegarty, the man behind New York City’s Antony and the Johnsons, is nothing if not enigmatic. He rarely tours, almost never takes pictures and the interviews he gives are either stilted conversations lacking in substance or, well, nonexistent. Hegarty has successfully cultivated an image of mystery consistent with the music he creates. Following 2004’s self-titled Antony and the Johnsons, 2005’s Mercury Prize-winning I Am a Bird Now and vocal contributions to the brilliant Hercules and Love Affair, Hegarty offers another tortured look into the soul of a musical conundrum with The Crying Light, a record almost fully devoted to the search for one’s place in a world that disallows ornate displays of difference. On first single “Another World,” Hegarty sings, “I need another place / Will there be peace / I need another world / This one’s nearly gone.” The lyrics are simple but torching; almost forcing the listener to engage the emotions they try to suppress because it’s too painful to admit that something needs to change. On The Crying Light, those feelings are addressed while accompanied by a beautiful arrangement of horns, strings and piano. And there’s always that voice — the voice of heartache and hope, sexual ambivalence and lustful silence. The Crying Light begs to be listened to at night, alone, on a full stomach of pills and loneliness. It will reverberate.
This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2009.