Taking a new direction the last LP, 2016’s Hopelessness, the artist formerly known as Antony Hegarty releases a gorgeously tender soul album inspired by the sound of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. Another inspirational figure appears the cover art, a portrait of gay rights activist Marsha P. Johnson taken by Alvin Baltrop. But whatever the style, of course it’s Anohni’s outstanding voice that remains the focus, delivering many spine-tingling moments, but this is the first time she’s worked with a guitar-based band rather than leading songs from keyboards or dance music with the likes of Hercules and Love Affair. Part of the flow and creativity of this more stripped back, delicate album comes via producer Jimmy Hogarth (introduced by Geoff Travis of Rough Trade), who previously worked Amy Winehouse, Duffy, and Tina Turner among others, and facilitated part of the writing process within the studio. Previous Song of the Day It Must Change is among the standouts, a beautifully melancholy love song also pertaining to climate change, as well as Sliver of Ice, about the last days of friend and mentor Lou Reed, a chilling Can’t, about the aftermath of a friend’s suicide, and particularly the penultimate track, Why Am I Alive Now? Profound, powerful, tender, beautiful work. Out on Rough Trade and Secretly Canadian.
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