Following up her stunning, critically acclaimed 2016 solo debut Hopelessness, ANOHNI returns with her new EP Paradise, gracing us again with flawless productions alongside her truly unique voice.
Born Antony Hegarty in Chichester, England in 1971, ANOHNI moved with her family to San Francisco in 1981, finally landing in Manhattan, New York in 1990. It was here that she began her musical career, performing alongside an ensemble of NYC-based musicians under the name Antony and The Johnsons, a group that would lead her to the world stage. The group’s second album, 2005’s I Am a Bird Now featured the likes of Lou Reed, Boy George, and Devendra Banhart, and received considerable worldwide praise, eventually winning the prestigious Mercury Prize Award. The band released several more albums, followed by extensive touring and amazing one-off visual performances, until 2015 when Antony announced the arrival of Hopelessness, her first record under the name “ANOHNI”, a name she had been using for years in her personal life.
Hopelessness was awarded boundless critical acclaim, not only for its stellar production work (courtesy of herself and collaborators Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke), but also for its political, social and environmental content, with the album being nominated for both a Mercury Prize and a Brit Award.
Paradise continues along the same narrative, acting almost as an accompaniment piece to Hopelessness rather than as a sovereign album. Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke are back in the producers’ chairs for this one, adding to the thread of continuance with their signature sound as a duo. While both Oneohtrix and Mohawke have for years experimented in heavy, chaotic, synth-driven music in their solo efforts, when working together they effortlessly find a balance between huge cavernous drums and percussion programing and beautifully restrained melody, carving out a perfect space for ANOHNI’s haunting and mesmerizing voice to live in. This dynamic balance is at it’s most striking on tracks like the massive marching “Ricochet”, with a marimba-like lead bouncing around playfully against drums that hit like a hammer, and the titular “Paradise”, which sees crystalline synths weave woozily around the listener as fat distorted kick drums keep a buoyant half-time tempo. Fantastic production values, however, only account for part of what makes Paradise a truly immersive experience, even with it’s small number of tracks. ANOHNI’s voice is quite truly like no other. It sits in its own unique range and is haunting, heart breaking and hopeful all at the same time.
Paradise is an extended play by British-American musician Anohni
A rumbling soundscape starts the album off in the intro of “In My Dreams”, sounding eerily like the start of a major storm, before a baroque synth welcomes ANOHNI in, crooning “In my dreams, you don’t want me/In my dreams, you come hurt me”, sounding quite literally like the semi-lucid murmurings of a fever dreamer.
It’s the spectre-like quality of ANOHNI’s voice that gives added weight and presence to the issues addressed in her music. Rather than a direct in-your-face mannerism that assigns blame, ANOHNI seems to act as a cautionary advisor, giving us a terrifying glimpse into the future we could face if we don’t start to take action on the issues currently pushing our world to critical mass. “You Are My Enemy” imagines her giving birth to someone who grows up intent on destroying the environment, an issue that ANHONI has been very vocal about in past years.
The politically charged “Jesus Will Kill You”, aimed pretty clearly at America’s new Commander-In-Chief, could easily have been a song of attack, but instead ANOHNI again acts as a cautionary voice, attempting to remind him that there will be consequences from up high for all the atrocities enacted under a holy name. The album closes out with the meditative “She Doesn’t Mourn Her Loss”, which leaves the record on a hopeful yet questioning note, finding an uneasy comfort in the remaining world sanity we still have, but cautiously questioning how much capacity for change we actually possess. The track finishes perfectly with aboriginal Australian artist Nola Ngalangka Taylor reading her work “What Is Happening to the World?”
Overall, Paradise isn’t much of a departure from Hopelessness, but in this instance the continuation is a great thing, like an additional chapter added to a well-loved book, and a reminder to us all that as much as things are improving (or at least moving towards improvement), there is still lots of work and healing to be done.
Expansive, atmospheric records can be made even more impactful when they are played through an incredible listening system. Come in to your local Richer Sounds today and let us help you get the most out of your music collection.
Author: Colin, Chiswick store
