Project 1001: I Am a Bird Now by Antony and the Johnsons & Anohni

Hope there's someone who'll take care of me / When I die, will I go? / Hope there's someone who'll set my heart free / Nice to hold when I'm tired

Feb 04, 2025

I Am a Bird Now opens with a beautiful song, “Hope There's Someone”. Singer/songwriter Anohni’s lyrics express a fear of loneliness, questioning if they can go on without someone with whom to share life. There is a poignant, desperate quality to this: “I hope there’s someone who will take care of me when I die”

Another highlight is “A Fistful of Love”, which brought this listener to tears after hearing it for the first time. It’s a story involving an abusive relationship where the abused person is so in love with the abuser that they think the abusive actions are done out of love. There are complex human emotions and psychology at play here all presented in heart wrenching fashion. Some commenters frame this as an ode to a sado-masochistic relationship. I don’t read it that way.

Anohni spends a lot of time on this album thinking in solitude, occasionally in bed unable to sleep. Sometimes Anohni sounds bleak. The mood of the album is quite melancholic, and it often evokes sadness or tears. But throughout the sadness, desperation, and longing lies a hope for the future. Of something better. And ultimately the possibility of happiness. Things are going to be alright.

My rating1:

David Fricke gave a 4-star review for Rolling Stone:

Antony is a ghost-white giant with a voice of singular majesty -- an instrument of delicacy and rapture in which Nina Simone, Morrissey and Joni Mitchell seem to inhabit the same breath. A harmony-vocal angel on Lou Reed's 2003 tour, Antony stole the encore each night, kissing anguished life into the Velvet Underground sigh "Candy Says." His soft but dogged longing for transformation in that song illuminates the whole of his second album. I Am a Bird Now opens with the full-force yearning of Antony's falsetto fluttering over stern gospel piano in "Hope There's Someone." In "Fistful of Love," his voice cuts through distortion-hell guitar (played by Reed) and roughhouse brass like a glass spear. Even in duets with Rufus Wainwright (wonderfully languid in "What Can I Do?") and Boy George, Antony is the dominant voice of solitude and agonized waiting. "One day I'll grow up and feel the power in me," he sings in "For Today I Am a Boy," a song only partly about the trap of gender. The lesson in this magnificence: That day has come.2

Slant magazine gave a 4-star review:

Antony’s voice is instantly inimitable. He makes the kind of music that compels you to stop talking and start listening. The mind tries to place the vibrato (like that of Nina Simone but more feminine), the swooning diva falsetto (similar to Jeff Buckley but more vulnerable), but his voice is truly unique and, despite the unfortunate aphorism of his band’s name and the implications of the album’s title, Antony the artist is ultimately sexless.
In many ways, it’s the listener who provides the gender. I Am a Bird Now takes us on a morbid journey from confusion to comfort (Boy George’s performance is like that of an old queen taking a new one under his wing), and from the beginning of death to its quiet, ephemeral end. It’s all surprisingly uplifting, almost in a giddy way, as Antony—or Candy on her deathbed?—goes “Spiralling” (along with another unique New York contemporary, Devendra Banhart, who makes Antony sound butch) and is finally “Free at Last,” flying like a “bird girl.” Call it a gay fantasia on sexual and spiritual themes.3

James Christopher Monger writing for AllMusic:

Antony and the Johnsons' second full-length recording, the haunting and affecting I Am a Bird Now, is a far more intimate affair than their debut. Anohni's bluesy parlor room cadence is more upfront here, resulting in a listening experience that's both exhilarating and disquieting. "Hope There's Someone" is a somber opener, and its plea for companionship, augmented by a sparse piano/vocal arrangement that rises into the air by song's end in a swirl of multi-tracked harmonies, is ultimately uplifting. This formula is applied to much of the record and never ceases to elicit honest emotion from Anohni and her numerous guests.4

Enjoy and listen without prejudice.
“And just remember, different people have peculiar tastes”
~ Lou Reed
Cheers!

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Charts

• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: n/a
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: n/a
• RIAA certification: n/a

Released on February 1, 2005. Here’s what else was happening:

Pop Culture

• Number one song: “Let Me Love You” by Mario5
• Number one album: American Idiot by Green Day6
• Number one movie: Hide and Seek by Jon Polson7
• Most watched TV programs: American Idol, Desperate Housewives, CSI, Grey’s Anatomy, The Apprentice, Survivor, CSI: Miami, Lost8
• NYT bestseller, fiction: The Broker by John Grisham9
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: Witness by Amber Frey10

Some other albums released that day

• Never Take Friendship Personal by Anberlin

• Brazilian Girls by Brazilian Girls

• Blessed Black Wings by High on Fire

• Curtains by John Frusciante

• Red, White & Crüe by Mötley Crüe

• Here's to the Mourning by Unwritten Law

• ¿Dónde Está La Luz? by WarCry11

Sport

• Jan 29 Australian Open Women's Tennis: In an all-American final Serena Williams wins her 2nd Australian title; beats Lindsay Davenport 2-6, 6-3, 6-0.
• Jan 30 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Marat Safin of Russia wins his second and final Grand Slam title; beats local hero Lleyton Hewitt 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
• Feb 1 Arsenal’s English Premier League record 33-game unbeaten streak at home ends when the Gunners go down, 4-2 to Manchester United at Highbury.
• Feb 6 Super Bowl XXXIX, Alltel Stadium, Jacksonville, FL: New England Patriots beat Philadelphia Eagles, 24-21; MVP: Deion Branch, New England, WR.12

Notable Births

• Jan 4 Dafne Keen, British-Spanish actress (Laura-Logan; Lyra Belacqua- His Dark Materials), born in Madrid, Spain.
• Mar 28 D4vd [David Burke], American singer-songwriter (Here With Me), born in Queens, New York.13

Historical Events

• Jan 26 Condoleezza Rice Becomes First African American Woman Secretary of State: Condoleezza Rice was sworn in as U.S. Secretary of State after being confirmed by the United States Senate with an 85-13 vote, marking a historic milestone as the first African American woman to hold this prestigious diplomatic position.
• Jan 30 First Free Parliamentary Elections in Iraq: On January 30, 2005, Iraq held its first multi-party parliamentary elections since 1958, marking a significant milestone in the country's democratic transition. The election was conducted under challenging security conditions, with multiple attacks targeting voters and polling stations.
• Feb 02 Canada Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage: The Government of Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act, a landmark legislation that would officially legalize same-sex marriage on July 20, 2005, marking a significant milestone in LGBTQ+ rights and social equality.14

Notable Deaths

• Jan 23 Johnny Carson, American comedian and TV host (The Tonight Show, Who Do You Trust), dies of respiratory failure arising from emphysema at 79.
• Jan 25 Ray Peterson, American singer (Tell Laura I Love Her), dies at 65.
• Jan 28 Jim Capaldi, British drummer, singer, and songwriter (Traffic - "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys"), dies of stomach cancer at 60.
• Feb 2 Max Schmeling, German boxer (world heavyweight champion 1930-32), dies at 99.
• Feb 1 John Vernon [Adolphus Agopsowicz], Canadian actor (Animal House, Chained Heat, Dirty Harry), dies at 72.15