Photo by Adam Marnie
Fruity New York warbler Antony has the craziest voice you’ll ever hear. When he opens his mouth to sing, this freakishly beautiful force of nature gushes out of him, like he’s possessed by Nina Simone and Diamanda Galas or he’s being used as a conduit by a higher being. For a stocky 34-year-old white guy he sounds uncannily like a black soul diva with all the world’s sorrows weighing heavy on her ageing shoulders.
Even though this former performance artist and cabaret star and his band, The Johnsons, are the toast of the transgressive arts scenes—he’s adored by Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and Boy George—Antony’s spellbinding music has more in common with local folk cats Joanna Newsom and Devendra Banhart. He’s like their long-lost androgynous elder cousin who’s soon to eclipse them all in the friendliest way possible. If you want to hear something new that will haunt you for the rest of your life, play his new album, I Am A Bird Now.
VICE: So what kind of bird are you now?
Antony: Um, an emu? Yes, an emu bound to a lake, bound forever to walk the perimeter of the lake.
That’s like a vision of hell. Would you say that some people might consider you quite mad?
I don’t know. I mean, I’m sure that that’s true. I’m not so worried about that.
What about stalkers? You must attract obsessive nutsos wherever you play in the world, right?
No, I don’t think that’s something people would pursue with me, I would hope. It’s not really my cup of tea. I mean, I live in a bedsit in Manhattan. I’m not on stalker level yet, put it that way.
THEYDON BOIS
I Am A Bird Now is out this month on Rough Trade. Antony and the Johnsons play London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on April 16.
