Antony and the Johnsons - Cut the World

Antony Hegarty's band has always been self-described as baroque-pop. Normally that label is pretentious and meaningless but with them it fits pretty well. Baroque, when applied properly, signifies Phil Spector-ian walls of sound but of course less mo-town and more orchestral. Strings, oboes, trumpets etc. but this is normally combined with rock.

"Cut the World" takes the Johnsons from pop-rock with a generous amount of baroque flourish to full-blown opera. Every second of the album pulsates with crescendo and decrescendo, drama, and a complete abandon for the cool, detached, restraint that modern music normally employs. The weighty lyrics/themes hit listeners over the head in the same way; plenty of LGBT alienation and suffering, lamentation over gender roles, and an outright monologue about being persecuted ("Future Feminism").

It is beautiful and majestic but almost too saturated with sorrow and melancholy to listen to all in one sitting. Antony Hegarty takes himself very seriously here and if I were able to tell him that at times it sounds pretty sappy, he would probably come swinging. More than anything, it's the monologue that does it and the fact that all the previous albums have been equally depressive while saying all of the exact same things. 

"The Cripple and Starfish" is another example. "I'm very very happy, so please hurt me"? Too much, Mr. Hegarty. It would have been more satisfying to hear more of Antony the Triumphant instead of always Antony the Conquered. Enjoy this one in bite-sized pieces for full effect.