THE BEAT
ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS
THE CRYING LIGHT
There is absolutely no other way to say it... Antony Hegarty ruins Antony & The Johnsons. The music is orchestral, and pretty listenable throughout the entirety of The Crying Light. Occasionally, it's excellent (like on Everglade). However, Hegarty's voice is so incredibly unbearable that it makes his unbearable lyrics bearable through association.
Its hard to describe. Some people have compared it to a soulful black woman's voice, but that only works if you actually think his voice is soulful. SPOILER ALERT: its not, and he is really white and mostly not a woman. The whole thing sounds contrived by a wildly obsessive Nina Simone fanboy, which probably isn't so unlike the truth. All I can credit him with is creating a sound that is certifiably 'closed-eyes-singing'.
His lyrics are bad too. He says "kiss" in every song, which is annoying. The way he says it makes it an even more anoying.
Overall, I didn't dig it. Also, as a side note, he has released one of the WORST cover songs of all time... a slowed down melodramatic version of Beyonce's extremely catchy Crazy In Love. He took something fun and killed it with solemness and that pretentious manchild voice of his. Goddammit!
GRADE: D-
STAND OUT TRACKS (notsomuch though):
Aeon, Everglade
listen for yourself:
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