Conceived as an introduction to Antony & the Johnsons' new full-length I Am A Bird Now (due February 1, 2005 on Secretly Canadian), The Lake consists of three songs, including the lead-off single to I Am A Bird Now, "Fistful of Love." The song features a scorching horn section and subcultural icon Lou Reed on vocals and searing lead guitar. In the tradition of subversive soul classics The Crystals' "He Hit me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)" and Millie Jackson's "Hurts So Good," Antony sings this ode to getting the shit kicked out of you and learning to love every minute of it. Could this be the overlooked theme song to J.T. Leroy's The Heart is Deceitful? The complex emotional undertow of this track reaches a cathartic roar by the songs finale. Antony shifts from a tremble to a wail - a tempest of emotion - while Lou makes that crucial Berlin connection.
"The Lake," the title track of the EP, is an adaptation of a poem by Edgar Allen Poe set to original music. Mystical folk hero Devendra Banhart included a live version of Antony's "The Lake" on the critically hailed compilation of new American music, The Golden Apples of the Sun. The track features Kevin Barker of Currituck Co. on guitar and Julia Kent on cello, and is more subtle than the live recording; Antony murmurs the lyrics inwardly, communicating at once the longing, comfort, and existential fear evoked by the mythic lake. The EP closes out with a lullaby, The Horror Has Gone, a simple fable with a hypnotic melody.
Selections:
1. The Lake
2. Fistful of Love
3. Horror Is Gone
"The Lake," the title track of the EP, is an adaptation of a poem by Edgar Allen Poe set to original music. Mystical folk hero Devendra Banhart included a live version of Antony's "The Lake" on the critically hailed compilation of new American music, The Golden Apples of the Sun. The track features Kevin Barker of Currituck Co. on guitar and Julia Kent on cello, and is more subtle than the live recording; Antony murmurs the lyrics inwardly, communicating at once the longing, comfort, and existential fear evoked by the mythic lake. The EP closes out with a lullaby, The Horror Has Gone, a simple fable with a hypnotic melody.
Selections:
1. The Lake
2. Fistful of Love
3. Horror Is Gone