Fellow Students of the State:
Check out “I Am A Bird Now,” the second album from Antony & The Johnsons. Upon release in 2005, this record won the Mercury Prize, a prize awarded to the best album of the year by any British-born artist or group.
Led by singer and songwriter Antony Hegarty (who uses the name “Anhoni” now), the band remains unique in that it voices the perspectives of the transgender community, an underrepresented demographic in popular music. Nearly all of the songs on this album suggest a deeply personal response to the question of gender.
Immediately upon hearing these songs, you’ll detect an ambiguous aural answer to this question. Anhoni’s voice cannot be categorized as male or female, and ultimately it shouldn’t.
I imagine most all of the songs were composed during Anhoni’s transition process from man to woman. The lyrical themes seem to suggest such, and combined with her odd, androgynous voice, every song is a very intriguing question of identity. Even the title, “I Am A Bird Now,” unifies this theme. “Bird” is British slang for “woman.” Birds are also a symbol of freedom. Nevertheless, that freedom isn’t always so readily available.
Songs such as “My Lady Story,” “For Today I Am a Boy” and “What Can I Do?” (featuring Rufus Wainwright) aptly express the social struggles associated with transgender people.
The haunting “Hope There’s Someone” articulates Anhoni’s worries over her future. The lyric references her fear of “the middle place,” or the dreadful limbo state between her male and female existence. The fragile, ghostlike vocals bathe the piece in pure pathos, and the two-minute closing coda creates quite the cathartic climax.
Nevertheless, hope pokes through in these pieces.
“You Are My Sister” features a comforting vocal performance courtesy of Boy George, an extremely important role-model for Anhoni. “You are my sister, and I love you” he soothingly sings to Anhoni in the poignant chorus. Imagine such encouragement!
Throughout all of the pieces, Anhoni couples her ever-expressive and effective voice with evocative musical flourishes. She conveys the appropriate emotional mood on each track primarily through the use of pretty pianos and tragic cellos, and in all songs, the music has been meticulously arranged with great taste and intention.
With album art that features a dying transgender actress, “I Am A Bird Now” addresses the cultural complexities of the concept of gender. The lyrics chronicle a complicated period of personal trouble in the poet’s life, a time of transition and change, a time when Anhoni felt like an individual denied of her appropriate identity.
It all goes to show that introspection inspires powerful pieces of art. May these songs encourage you to reflect upon your own personal struggles (even if the time isn’t ripe for change). Fortunately, this album serves as a suitable soundtrack for pensive pondering, and it hardly exceeds half-an-hour. Take time to soak it up yourself!
-Alexander Moss
Hear “I Am A Bird Now” here:
Listen on Spotify
Buy on iTunes
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