I can never remember what "Ghost" sounds like after listening to it, for some reason. Everything else, though, is lovely.

yeah, i don't sense a departure on this album either. it's like when Tori said she was jumping ship and she had barely swam an inch away.

that being said, i am really enjoying it. i think Fletta, Christina's Farm and Swanlights are favorites at first several listens. The Great White Oceans sounds very familiar but i cant seem to place it.

some thoughts after hearing three tracks from Swanlights (I've bought the album today) > first I needed to hear Violetta, cuz it's name of the daughter of my sister. Well, that was over quite quickly

as for the title track - well, I was very reliefed when I heard it. That is because I found The Crying Light to be a tad boring at times, being too soft and slow and too much of the same - especially after I had heard Shake That Devil. I need my uptempo moments to enjoy Antony - I Am A Bird Now partially worked for me cuz it had Fistful Of Love. I was just so afraid he was gonna continue the nice and slow direction of The Crying Light. But then I heard the dark and creepy, almost electronica like opening from the title track...

as for Thank You For Your Love - well, I just think me and thank you songs don't go along that very well. There were others before by Sinéad and Alanis (and Dido too) that were a bit blah - nice intentions, boring execution and therefore not really reaching their point. Being oh so humble is nice, but not all that interesting to listen to. I think this particular song was saved a bit by the fact that it is a bit uptempo

When Antony phoned Björk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/audi...2/antony-bjork

on further listens, Ghost seems like a more shy and less moveable version of Shake That Devil

I was listening to my ipod with Cocorosie on shuffle , and i have this live show where Antony was there and they sang You Are My Sister
it's just , too beautiful

Antony and the Johnsons
 

I don't think we have a thread for Antony yet, so I am making one! He has definitely become one of my favorites over the years. Here is some news:


http://www.antonyandthejohnsons.com/...-Coverthmb.jpg

Antony and the Johnsons will release their five track EP “Thank You For Your Love” on August 24th via Secretly Canadian. The title-track is the lead single from the forthcoming album “Swanlights” also being released by Rough Trade on October 11th and Secretly Canadian on October 12. The album is now available for pre-order including bundles consisting of the full length CD and EP, vinyl LP and EP, and book with CD and EP will be available for sale on August 4th. Those who purchase the bundles will instantly receive an advance download of the EP. The pre-order is up here.

Artwork for the EP features photographs Antony took when he first arrived in NYC as a teenager in the early 90’s.

1 - Thank You For Your Love
2 - You Are The Treasure
3 - My Lord My Love
4 - Pressing On
5 - Imagine I already preordered the LP so I have gave a listen to the EP the other day. I like most of it a lot. However, I am so not feeling the Imagine cover. I don't understand why he decided to cover it. There are enough covers of Imagine out there already.

Also- I love how they chose to release this EP. It kind of came of nowhere.

I agree with you about the "Imagine" cover; he could've done a lot more with it. I like the rest of the EP, though, and can't wait for Swanlights!

antony takes over Guardian's music page for a week starting today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesi...nsons-takeover

so far, there is a piece about him and marina on there. he is collaborating with Marina Abramovic on a play/opera about Marina's life. i couldn't possibly be more excited and pleased about that. they are the two artists that excite me the most, three if we count Björk. so to hear that they met at a Björk party where "Matthew Barney was grilling fish on the lawn" made me have quite a hysterical moment of jealousy, i'll admit!

^The news that he's working with Marina is incredibly exciting. I hope the opera is filmed and released in some form, it sounds like a great project.

I saw Marina at the NYC MOMA back in April!

Suddenly can't get enough of The Spirit Was Gone.

I love Antony and the new EP is a nice way to hold fans over until the new record. I couldn't help but sense a religious thread running through it especially with My Lord, My Love and Pressing On. However that could just be because of placement.

From what I've read about it, Swanlights will be a stylistic departure from his past work, but from Thank You For Your Love, it doesn't sound that way. And I know judging a whole album on one track isn't fair, but TYFYL could have come from any of the Antony and the Johnsons albums. Gorgeous, yes. But not really what I was expecting.

I've only heard "Thank You For Your Love," but I kind of hated it, and I normally like most of Antony's stuff. I don't even really know how to put into words why I hated it, but I did. I guess I just thought it was kind of pointless? Just a guy singing, "Thank you for your love," increasingly passionately, over a pretty uninteresting arrangement. It annoyed me. I should listen to the rest of the EP, but a cover of "Imagine" sure is sounding irritating as well.

I didn't care for the Another World EP, either, so maybe when the full Swanlights album comes out, I will like it as much as I liked The Crying Light. I Am a Bird Now is still my favorite though.

I read somewhere that "Thank You For Your Love" sounds like an Antony and the Johnsons parody, and I'd have to agree. Haven't listened to the rest yet.

We've had some time to digest "Swanlights." I don't love it in the way that I love "Bird Now" and "Crying Light," but it's still an amazing album by an amazing band. Something is slightly off about the album. Maybe it's the song order? Many of the songs conjure up entirely different feelings but are still stuck beside each other on the album. Going from "Swanlights" to "Spirit" to "Thank You" is a jarring, disjointed experience sometimes!

Still, I really love this band. Antony just does everything that I want from music! I've had a hard time finding similar artists, though. Pandora isn't extremely helpful, and no matter how many times they throw an Iron & Wine song at me, I am not going to agree that they're similar bands, haha. Does anyone have any music recommendations for someone who is eat up with Antony and the Johnsons? I like pianos and mostly dislike guitars.

Try Baby Dee's last record Regifted Light which has lots of piano - some beautiful instrumentals and a crazy song about pie!!! Also the kind of compilation A Book of Songs for Anne Marie is gorgeous - mostly on harp. Quite different to Joanna. The Robin's Tiny Throat is nice, Safe Inside the Day is more bawdy - fun but I don't listen to it often.
Give her a few listens as on first listen I wasn't convinced it worked.

My favourites are
Lilacs
Regifted Light
Yapapipi
Endless Night
Calvary
Love's Small Song
So Bad
When I get Home

I love Baby Dee, actually! But you're right, that's a very good recommendation. My favorite Baby Dee song is "Price of a Sparrow."

So you're already a fan! super! From the just1star guys I got pointed to Agnes Obel

I think her song Riverside must be being used on tv and ads but can't think where or how!



If you know Baby Dee you'll probably know Joan As Police Woman...???

To Survive has some amazing piano (but some guitar too!).

I got the Swanlights EP today. Hmmm! An interesting choice for a single, I suppose, as it's probably the most inaccessible song on the album, especially for first-time listeners. The OPN edit of "Swanlights" is similar to the treatment that "Returnal" got on the Antony/Fennesz EP. Just some scattered lyrics with a light electronic atmosphere going on in the background. These OPN edits kind of make me dart my eyes around nervously.

We've had "Find the Rhythm of Your Love" for years, so that was nothing new, but the new b-side "Kissing Noone" is pretty darn good. It's just Antony and the piano, as I prefer it. It has some really great lyrics.

Was it a dream...
From the abyss?
Deep inside nowheres...
Of loneliness
Kissing no one
Kissing you
Your hopes haunt me
Your hopes curse me