If you let it work its magic, it will -- no matter how unfashionable or cloying it may seem at a glance. It’s music to get absorbed by.
The Crying Light — a haunting collection of ballads that play like transmissions from a mournful, elegant alien — nearly equals its predecessor.
Whatever your hopes were after I Am a Bird Now, they have been exponentially exceeded in poetry, music, and honesty here.
The Crying Light, reaches out from the band’s investment in gender issues to grapple with nature of a different sort: the earth, familial relationships and a life-force passed on. The scope of the record spans generations, but retains a sense of communion with its listener.
The cover of The Crying Light, the third album by Antony and the Johnsons, is strikingly similar to that of its predecessor, 2005's highly-lauded I Am a Bird Now. The latter presented a stark black-and-white shot of transvestite performer Candy Darling lying on her hospital deathbed; this time, we get an even starker image of Japanese Butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno, a hero of bandleader Antony Hegarty since he first spotted her on a poster while studying in France as a teenager. As Ohno leans back, wrinkled and seemingly near death himself, the flower in his hair sits in the same position as the bright blooms that hover above Darling.
At the album’s heart is a valediction to the planet so sorrowfully sensual Hegarty seems to be clinging to Mother Nature’s fingertips like a lover.
That The Crying Light vibrates with confidence will be no surprise to anyone who witnessed last year's remarkable shows at London's Barbican.
The Crying Light is not exactly light and happy stuff, but for Antony, it’s a giant step forward down the path toward personal and artistic happiness.
Finally returning with The Crying Light, Hegarty remains ill-at-ease with the limelight’s blinding gaze; fortunately, he’s retained a penchant for jaw-gaping compositions.
The Crying Light is a truly beautiful record. It’s initial impact is not like that of his previous two albums, but this allows his genuine talent to begin to blossom. There is more to come from Antony.
The Crying Light is a good album, but it’s not a great one. You can hear Hegarty growing as an artist with a unique (literal and figurative) voice who is trying to execute his vision. Still, I can’t help but feel that a fourth full-length album in this vein will feel like a rehash.
The Crying Light shows us that there is one medium of output that will undoubtedly remain his most naturally beautiful, his most perfect fit.
With ‘The Crying Light’ Antony And The Johnsons continue to explore the creative boundaries of pop while covering all emotional bases. For that, they should be celebrated.
On The Crying Light, Antony acts as a conduit between popular music and the avant-garde, and if that’s not a mark of greatness, what is?
The Crying Light may prove to be too precarious to hold up on its own in the future, but for now Antony & the Johnsons have provided a perfect gateway to their music.
Antony’s one-of-a-kind tenor is stretched to the point of a whisper on Crying Light.
If you were one of the many that loved I Am A Bird Now when it was released, then you'll undoubtedly enjoy this just as much.
The Crying Light too often doesn’t feel like it has a sufficient destination, even though it takes some gorgeous side road.
Antony Hegarty's tremulous warble is a strange and marvelous instrument — and for many, an acquired taste. The Crying Light, this diva-dude's third album, spotlights his haunting vocals with few distractions, using piano and low-key orchestral arrangements as foils for him to swoop and shiver over.
The Crying Light is a record that effectively changes Antony’s character and makes him a difficult entity to relate to, forcing him more into the realm of animatronics than human existence.
closing your eyes in a car, as you travel away from your place of origin. I always love the vocals of hers, but the instrumentals on here are freaking amazing, a close comparison to I Am A Bird Now, but has sentimentalism for me personally.
Creo que hubo un buen cambio con el nombre de Anohni, es y no es tan grandioso como los críticos lo catalogan
This is the type of music you listen to when you feel lost or yearning for something out of your reach. An absolutely gorgeous listen and a beautiful love letter to mother earth and Kazuo Ohno (who inspired this album) with some of Anohni's best performances and stunning instrumentation. A demanding yet extremely rewarding listen.
Classic hipster trash. Some people need to re-read the fairy tale about how the emperor has no clothes.
Pretty unlistenable if you’re not someone trying to put on airs.
1 | Her Eyes Are Underneath the Ground 4:23 | 95 |
2 | Epilepsy Is Dancing 2:41 | 91 |
3 | One Dove 5:34 | 89 |
4 | Kiss My Name 2:48 | 89 |
5 | The Crying Light 3:17 | 87 |
6 | Another World 3:59 | 87 |
7 | Daylight and the Sun 6:20 | 86 |
8 | Aeon 4:34 | 87 |
9 | Dust and Water 2:50 | 83 |
10 | Everglade 2:58 | 91 |
#16 | / | Pitchfork |
#18 | / | Spin |
#22 | / | Treble |
#24 | / | A.V. Club |
#33 | / | No Ripcord |
#34 | / | The Line of Best Fit |
#35 | / | Amazon |
#35 | / | Beats Per Minute |
#36 | / | Cokemachineglow |
#39 | / | musicOMH |