release date: Feb. 1, 2005
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,06]
producer: Antony Hegarty
label: Secretly Canadian - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "Hope There's Someone" (5 / 5) (live) - 2. "My Lady Story" (4,5 / 5) (live) - 3. "For Today I Am a Bouy" (4 / 5) (live) - 4. "Man Is the Baby" (4 / 5) (live) - 5. "You Are My Sister" (4 / 5) - 7. "Fistful of Love" - 8. "Spiralling" - 10. "Bird Gerhl" (4 / 5) (live)
2nd studio album by Antony and the Johnsons follows five whole years after the promissing debut, and like that, this is written, composed and produced by Antony Hegarty.
The style is much stronger and solidified on this compared to the first one out - the end result is a marvellous improvement to a fine debut as the album simply contains a wide range of great compositions. It features several well-renowned artists such as: Rufus Wainwright (track #6), Devandra Banhart (tracks #5 and #8), Boy George (track #5), and Lou Reed (track #7) - the latter has often played at live concerts featuring guest appearance by Antony.
The album release was five years under its way but considering the small attention that was attributed the debut, this album took a remarkable step into the limelight. I Am a Bird Now won the British music award The Mercury Prize ahead of artists such as Bloc Party, Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs, and M.I.A. to mention but a few, which secured the album the biggest jump ever seen on the British album chart list, going from an initial position as number #135 to number #16 in the period of one week only.
It's a great and modern classic album and in retrospect it's also the best from Antony and the Johnsons. The front cover features an iconic photograph titled "Candy on her deathbed" of [Andy Warhol star] Candy Darling by Peter Hujar.
Highly recommendable.
[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Q Magazine 4 / 5, 👍Pitchfork 8,6 / 10 stars ]
