Anohni And The Johnsons

Anohni And The Johnsons

Anohni And The Johnsons is a music group from New York, United Kingdom, active from 1995 to the present. The project is fronted by ANOHNI, who starts out as a solo performer in the mid-1990s before assembling a backing group in 1995 and focusing more fully on the musical side of her performances. The act is previously known as Antony and the Johnsons.

Formation and early work

The group develops a following in New York venues including the Kitchen and the Knitting Factory. ANOHNI receives a New York Foundation for the Arts award for performance art and emergent forms, which she uses to record the debut album Blue Angel. The album remains unreleased at first and then appears in 1998 under the title Antony and the Johnsons after David Tibet signs the project to his Durtro label. The line-up on the album includes Baby Dee on harp, Francois Gehin on bass, Todd Cohen on drums, Charles Neilson on guitar, and several string and woodwind players.

Style and early releases

The project is associated with chamber pop, art pop, alternative rock, ambient, baroque pop and indie rock, and its early recordings are described as modern torch songs built around ANOHNI’s soulful, multi-octave voice. Songs such as “Cripple and the Starfish” and “Divine” become key tracks from this period. The band also works on material tied to late-night cabarets and Blacklips Performance Cult before the group takes shape.

Further early releases include the EP I Fell in Love with a Dead Boy, which contains cover versions of “Mysteries of Love” and “Soft Black Stars”, along with new songs “You Stand Above Me” and “The Lake”, the latter adapted from an Edgar Allan Poe poem. The group also issues a shared EP, Live at St. Olave’s, with Current 93, recorded at Saint Olave’s Church in London, and later appears again with Current 93 on a limited 7-inch that includes “Virgin Mary”.

Line-up and collaborations

By the early 2000s, the Johnsons’ line-up includes Todd Cohen, Jeff Langston, Jason Hart, Julia Kent, Joan Wasser and Maxim Moston. The verified line-up also includes ANOHNI, Rob Moose and Doug Wieselman. Lou Reed hears the I Fell in Love with a Dead Boy EP, recruits ANOHNI for The Raven and takes her on tour in 2003, which leads to her appearance on his live album Animal Serenade. Lou Reed also guests on “Fistful of Love”.

Albums, EPs and acclaim

After the project signs to Secretly Canadian, the label reissues the debut for a wider US audience and later releases The Lake EP. In February 2005 the group releases its second album, I Am a Bird Now, featuring guest appearances from Rufus Wainwright, Devendra Banhart, Lou Reed and Boy George. The album receives strong critical acclaim in the UK and wins the Technics Mercury Music Prize for 2005.

In 2006 ANOHNI appears in the Leonard Cohen tribute concert and film I’m Your Man, performing “If It Be Your Will”. The group’s later releases include the five-song Another World EP in 2008, followed by the albums The Crying Light in 2009 and Swanlights in 2010. These later records are described as more experimental and less melodic than the earlier work, while still receiving critical acclaim.