Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Product Description
Review
Another World is Anthony and the Johnsons' first release in nearly three years, and although it's merely a five track harbinger of The Crying Light (promised for January 2009 and rumoured to be a double album), there's plenty to enjoy.
The EP opens with the title track, which paints a Beckettian portrait of a world dwindling before the eyes of an observer. A simple piano refrains loops throughout, lingering unresolved and groping for closure as the landscape is unimagined. Antony yearns ''I need another world/ this one's nearly gone''. You'd expect the result to be something unnerving, but with the pace so measured and Antony's voice so familiar, it's beautifully mesmeric.
After such a comforting start, quirky second track Crackagen comes as a jolt. 18 seconds in, a startling chord change reminds us that Hegarty possesses not only a unique voice, but also a talent for striking composition. Next, on Shake That Devil, Anthony's hand turns to vintage swing jazz, with pseudo-military cadence calls scattered over a sturdy beat from Parker Kindred (formerly of the Jeff Buckley band). It's playful, unexpected and shouldn't really work. But it does, and it's addictive.
Sing For Me is probably the lowest point here; it feels fragmentary, and the exaggerated piano rests hinder the enjoyment of an elegant string arrangement. On Hope Mountain, though, Antony's voice comes to the fore again, before a final horn fanfare heralds the arrival of The Crying Light.
Though brief, Another World is a wonderful reminder of a singular and much-missed talent. On the strength of this, it looks like 2009 will be another triumphant year for Anthony and the Johnsons. --Richard Banks
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Apparently a stepping stone along the way to new album
'The Crying Light' due for release sometime next year.
2005's Mercury Prize winning collection 'I Am A Bird Now'
tore our nerves to shreds with its' raw revelatory exposure.
'Another World' plunges us once again into strange and
turbulent emotional territory.
Opening track 'Another World' is every bit as beautiful
as his masterpiece 'Hope There's Someone'.
Spare and bare and disturbing in its' stark simplicity.
'Crackagen' has a fragile, jewel-like melody, carried
sublimely by the gorgeous piano and string accompaniment.
'Shake The Devil' (like the artwork) is the stuff of nightmares.
The childlike rhyme concealing a dark and terrifying heart.
From its' quiet ambiguous opening to the raucous bluesy
ending this is a very fine song indeed.
The halting progress of 'Sing For Me' belies another fine
composition which manages both to bewilder and beguile.
Final track 'Hope Mountain', with its' elusive folk-like
melody, minimalist piano and brass arrangement and half-heard
whisperings concludes this extraordinary recording.
Far to the left of the middle of the road and all the more
wonderful because of it, Mr Hegarty and his otherworldly voice takes
a few more tentative steps towards some form of rare tranforming light.
The Wolf is willing to follow.
Highly recommended.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
