Red Wine and Cigarettes

If asked forcefully to imagine the ideal scenario while listening to Antony and the Johnsons eponymous album I'd have to imagine him sitting in a dark Upper East Side loft, hunched over a metallic and broken desk, sipping merlot and smoking packs of American Spirits. An operatic voice, Antony can grab the happiness from your stomach and turn it into reflection of relationship, love and abuse. But the album isn't Music Noir, it has a sense of doves flying out of their cages.

Like Rufus Wainwright, Antony seems to proudly express his sexual preferences through music and give power to himself by a voice that could shake mountains. An instrument in itself, the chords and levels he reaches bring even the slower songs to a monumental peak and finish. His sound is best displayed in "Cripple and the Starfish" and "Hitler My Heart." The former is a scene about relationship abuse and the strength that Antony might have had to obtain in such a situation. "Hitler My Heart" might be the effect of such a relationship, trying to express his kindness but having an evil side in his heart he can't let go.

The album changes on "River of Sorrow" a title that breads blue and lonely evenings, but reminds that there is promise in the future. "Can you see the light/At the end of the dark passageway/Take me with you towards this light/Into the darkness passing over the faces in the river."

Antony's album is much expected lyrically. He steps wayside to Wainwright in song writing, but where Rufus is strong in text Antony is strong in sound. Antony and the Johnsons can lead you through an album with little care to what is being said. A mother's lullaby has little meaning to a child that understands no language, but is relaxing and shows love. Antony accomplishes this feat with great esteem, and shows much promise outside of the realm of popular music.