anohni - 'marrow'

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I think her latest album 'Hopelessness' is by far her most accessible in years and I'm so pleased that the subject matter for the tunes has moved away from the personal to the world at large. That's not to say that I don't think that the personal matters are/were important but that it started to pigeon-hole everything about Anohni. There's plenty of great tracks on this latest album and I'm particularly taken with the last song. It's incredibly uplifting and poppy and I'm a sucker for both of those adjectives when it comes to music.

antony and the johnsons - 'cripple and the starfish'

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It's a shame that Antony Hegarty boxed himself into a musical corner and has done very little new material of late. This is him at his finest.

antony and the johnsons - 'cut the world'

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This is the very recent live album that Antony Hegarty recorded in Denmark with the Danish National Chamber Orchestra. Hearing him sing his studio classics live for the first time throws up some interesting results. I was expecting a full-blown orchestral masterclass to rival Jim Steinman. Instead, it is hardly operatic at all and sounds almost stripped back with Hegarty's vocals cruising in 4th gear. Don't get me wrong; his voice purrs along beautifully and is perfect for this more intimate arrangement and ever so occasionally he blasts into his 5th gear later on in the album. I applaud his restraint and I think it makes for a more seductive experience. 

Of course it's his singing voice that really grabs the attention but he also has a very melodic speaking voice (well, he's a Sussex lad so that's a given!) when he delivers a few monologues on his views on the world, religion and his sexuality. This sounds pretentious but I think they are useful signposts for his music. This album is a must-have for all fans of Antony and the Johnsons.

Here is "You Are My Sister'.

antony - 'coral:rekindling venus'

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Antony Hegarty has released this track available for download for a donation to the Australian Research Council Centre for Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. You can get it from here. Why the Coral Reef Studies charity? Well...it's the soundtrack to a film about coral by Lynette Wallworth. 

It is a beautiful track but I do feel with his songs that it's all getting a bit samey. Perhaps because his voice is just so distinctive or maybe because he tends to favour piano pieces played in the same key but I'd like to see him branch out into a different direction.

antony and the johnsons - cripple and the starfish

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At last someone has put back a link to this great video of my favourite Antony and the Johsons track. It's pretty obvious what the song is about and the video makes references to the gay sex in a very overt way but nonetheless, it's a beautiful song from a great artist and the video is one of my favourites with its film noir quality.