Return of the Johnsons: Soul, which tells of humanity, hope and love.
“What’s Going On?” – Marvin Gaye’s question, first asked in 1971, still has enormous relevance 52 years later. A few weeks ago, Christine & The Queens took a cue from their new album to capture the spirit of Gaye’s timeless record. Now Anohni also refers to it – lyrically and musically. On her last album, HOPELESSNESS, Anohni performed without the Johnsons and featured art and electro-pop that roared menacingly enough often enough that it was a panic and paranoia record. The worries have remained, but together with the completely newly cast Johnsons, Anohni now makes them sound different. The cover shows Marsha P. Johnson, drag queen, central activist of the US queer scene in the 1960s and who gave her name to the Johnsons.
The main protagonist of the record is the London producer and guitarist Jimmy Hogarth, a soul fan who worked for Amy Winehouse, Tina Turner and The 1975. His guitar characterizes the first piece “It Must Change”. Anohni developed the song based on his wonderful soul motif, driven by pure intuition, she only sang the piece once and then it was finished. During the following “Go Ahead” the claim to art breaks through briefly, the guitar blares, Anohni rails against a destructive person for 90 seconds.
Then the elegance returns: The love song “Sliver Of Ice” is reminiscent of the great soul Americana moments of Lambchop, “Can’t” sounds lively, “Rest” is a big ballad, “There Wasn’t Enough” takes that chamber folk from the early Johnsons albums that Anohni recorded as Antony. MY BACK WAS A BRIDGE FOR YOU TO CROSS is also about the end of humanity, of mankind. Above all, however, it is about the hope for a change at the last minute – and about the trust in love.