ANOHNI and the Johnsons - The Crying Light
Critic Score
Based on 33 reviews
2009 Ratings: #28 / 923
Year End Rank: #35
User Score
Based on 158 ratings
2009 Rank: #108
Liked by 14 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
Tiny Mix Tapes

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.

100
Spectrum Culture
After its beauty trails off, one thing is certain. You truly know Antony.
100
A.V. Club
A startlingly powerful album meted out with supreme control.
91
Entertainment Weekly

The Crying Light — a haunting collection of ballads that play like transmissions from a mournful, elegant alien — nearly equals its predecessor.

90
Alternative Press
What emerges by the halfway point of the title track is the sense that you're not listening to just another piano troubadour; you're hearing the oceanic confessions of an artist who in time will be considered one of the most affecting composers of this still young century.
90
AllMusic

Whatever your hopes were after I Am a Bird Now, they have been exponentially exceeded in poetry, music, and honesty here.

88
Paste

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.

86
Pitchfork

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.

84
Time Out London

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.

83
Beats Per Minute
This is a haunting, beautiful record, and one that defies easy summation.
80
The Observer

That The Crying Light vibrates with confidence will be no surprise to anyone who witnessed last year's remarkable shows at London's Barbican.

80
Uncut
The Crying Light shows Antony boldly, indefatigably following his own eccentric star.
80
Mojo
It's an ideal January release, time enough for Antony's spacious, textured odyssey to sink in before those Album Of The Year polls come round again.
80
NOW Magazine
Hegarty sounds more in control of his remarkable voice than ever before, and this new restraint suits him. When you’ve got this much emotive power at your fingertips, it’s wise to reel it in a bit.
80
Prefix

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.

80
The Skinny

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.

80
Gigwise

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.

80
Record Collector
Beautifully, and with a sense of keen economy, Antony Hegarty thankfully renders you speechless. Even his sleeves acquiesce.
80
Q Magazine
Emotion drips from every breath.
80
Evening Standard
On balance, this third album, linked by Hegarty's strangely disconnected, other worldly warble, confirms him as an artist of genuine stature.
80
Consequence of Sound

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.

80
No Ripcord

The Crying Light shows us that there is one medium of output that will undoubtedly remain his most naturally beautiful, his most perfect fit.

80
NME

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.

80
musicOMH
At times, you won't hear a more beautiful album this year, and there are enough heart-stoppingly dramatic moments on here to more than justify all the excited pre-release anticipation.
80
Drowned in Sound

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?

77
Coke Machine Glow

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.

70
Slant Magazine

Antony’s one-of-a-kind tenor is stretched to the point of a whisper on Crying Light.

70
Sputnikmusic

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.

70
Under the Radar

The Crying Light too often doesn’t feel like it has a sufficient destination, even though it takes some gorgeous side road.

70
SPIN
Antony and the Johnsons' third full-length wisely focuses on the frontman's enormous talent, with Nico Muhly's classical arrangements plinking and waltzing but never overpowering.
60
The Guardian
The album's big problem is not a lack of quality; it's the feeling that you've been here before, or you've been somewhere so like here as to make little difference.
60
Rolling Stone

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.

40
PopMatters

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.

geniusalexandra
85

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.

80

Nice

QuirckyListener
69

Creo que hubo un buen cambio con el nombre de Anohni, es y no es tan grandioso como los críticos lo catalogan

LXZXTHS
90

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.

6

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.

80

Nice

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