ANOHNI has announced a new album: My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross arrives July 7 via Secretly Canadian, marking her first release credited to the Johnsons since 2010’s Swanlights. Today, she has shared lead single “It Must Change,” which arrives with a music video directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, starring British social justice activist Munroe Bergdorf. Watch that below, and scroll down to find the tracklist and LP artwork—which features a vintage portrait of human rights activist Marsha P. Johnson, taken by Alvin Baltrop.
“Many of the recordings on this record—like ‘It Must Change’ and ‘Can’t’—capture the first and only time I have sung those songs through,” wrote ANOHNI in a press release. “There’s a magic when you suddenly place words you have been thinking about for a long time into melody. A neural system awakens. It isn’t personal and yet is so personal. Things connect and come alive.”
Of the accompanying music video, she said: “Munroe Bergdorf has done so much service for British society. She always impresses me with her articulate grace. Munroe’s dignity and ethical courage are a guiding light.”
ANOHNI’s last solo album, Hopelessnessarrived in 2016, followed by the Paradise EP the next year. “I’ve been thinking a lot about Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. That was a really important touchstone in my mind,” ANOHNI of her sixth studio album. “Some of these songs respond to global and environmental concerns first voiced in popular music over 50 years ago.”
She continued: “I want the record to be useful. I learned with Hopelessness that I can provide a soundtrack that might strengthen people in their work, in their activism, in their dreaming and decision-making. I can sing of an awareness that makes others feel less alone, people for whom the frank articulation of these frightening times is not a source of discomfort but a cause for identification and relief. I want the work to be useful, to help others move with dignity and resilience through these conversations we are now facing.”
The singer and songwriter began working on My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross in 2022 alongside producer Jimmy Hogarth. ANOHNI brought Hogarth pages of lyrics, and, together, they pieced together demos with ANOHNI playing piano and Hogarth on guitar. Hogarth then assembled a studio band including Leo Abrahams, Chris Vatalaro, Sam Dixon, and string arranger Rob Moose to record the full ANOHNI and the Johnsons album.
The Knife’s Olof Dreijer has teamed up with Tomorrow, in a year collaborators Mt. Sims for a new record of steel drum music. Souvenirs, Dreijer’s first full-length as a lead artist since the Knife split, comprises five songs spanning 33 minutes, each resulting from 10 years exploring the instrument in a bid to deconstruct its stereotypical depictions in Western music. “We tried to find our own thing,” Dreijer said in a press release. “That’s usually our way around using an instrument that has been heavily exoticized and appropriated.” The record arrives June 9, via Rabid, and you can listen to “Hybrid Fruit” below.
Dreijer and Sims began work on the five-track record after the Trinidad-via-New York organization Special Friends of the Earth (SFOTE) invited them to compose with a steel drum created by the Trinidadian instrument maker Ellie Mannette. In experimenting with the instrument, the musicians incorporated materials such as ball bearings and water to make unorthodox sounds. They also drew attention to Scandinavia’s role in colonizing the Caribbean by reinterpreting the medieval Swedish folk song “Liten Karin” for the record.
The writers Anna-Maria Sörberg, Nathan Hamelberg, and Tomas Hemstad co-authored a text to accompany the release, which you can read on Dreijer’s website. Dreijer also intends to release new solo music this year, according to a press release. He contributed production to Knife bandmate Fever Ray’s recent album, Radical Romantics.
I think it’s time for another Mayhem singles round-up, don’t you? Here coming the fourth for 2023, it includes a baker’s dozen of tunes that have been passed on to me or recommended during the previous few weeks and months, there are some rather spiffing tracks.
It features many artists and bands that have appeared on Mayhem’s pages before. There are also four great cover versions in this collection. There are new tracks from Avalanche Party, Apollo Junction, Vaquelin and Liz Davinci who I think all have new albums coming out sometime this year. Judging from their latest offerings, choosing Mayhem’s album of the year for 2023 will be very difficult! Let me know what you think of this great collection of tunes!
You will find a YouTube link to each song in the title (or a link to the audio of the track) and a link to the artist’s website or one of their social media pages when you click the artist’s name. You can also find the link to a Spotify playlist of all these songs by clicking here.
“Serious Dance Music” – Avalanche Party
Ain’t no party like an Avalanche Party and the AP boys are back with what is most definitely a tune for partying to. You probably wouldn’t play this at a work event! I sense an Amazing Snakeheads influence in this fast-paced, frenzied, frenetic, funky, feral, fest of a song. The band all seem to be in top form, especially Kane’s drumming. This is the first single from their upcoming sophomore album, ‘Der Traum Über Alles’. The video is very classy indeed.
“History” – Apollo Junction
The Apollo Junction boys are back with another offering that will feature on their third album, due out later this year. For the first minute, it is soft, acoustic, mellow and pensive. Then the sound continues to build with an almost drone-like guitar sound underpinning it. It finally builds to an immense orchestral-sounding, epic finish. The harmonies are superb and I can imagine this sound echoing across festival fields for years to come. Possibly my favorite Apollo Junction song so far.
“The Grayston Boogie” – Hazy Janes
This is a fine slab of fuzzy, dirty, electric blues. If you are not doing the Grayston Boogie by the end of the track then you should frankly seek medical help. The video has a few fleeting tips as to how to boogie in a Grayston way!
“Back To Black” – The Palava
A brave choice to cover this one. No one could ever hope to emulate the original Amy Winehouse, so the Palava chose to take the song in a different direction. An immaculate blues rock vocal and some gritty, scuzzy garage rock style guitars. I have seen the band play this live and they do it well, but this recording is so much better than that! I bloody love it!
“FKN H8 U 2” – Sad Like You
This bunch is from Adelaide, Australia and this track is reminiscent of the softer side of Blink 182. It is a close-to-perfect amalgam of great pop punk and emo. A heartfelt tale of heartbreak. I am looking forward to hearing more from Sad Like You.
“Pain Reliever” – Liz Davinci
Is Liz Davinci descended from Leonardo? I don’t know, but she is certainly an incredibly talented artist. Vocally there are elements of Kate Bush, Suzanne Vega, and Marcella Detroit here. This tune is beautiful and almost baroque in its construction. I love the way that Liz is not afraid to use the space between the notes. This augers well for her forthcoming album ‘Fata Morgana’.
“Five Years” – Easy All Stars/ Steel Pulse
This is the second cover in this singles selection (there will be more) and it does what I think makes a perfect cover in that it isn’t a simple facsimile of the original. This is the first track to be released from the Easy All Stars forthcoming album of a reggae reimagining of Bowie’s ‘The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars’ album. This one works perfectly and bodes well for the album. The Dame’s rarely touched reggae, and when he did it was never particularly good in my opinion. But Easy All Stars with Steel Pulse show with absolute certainty that Bowie can work in a reggae style.
“Feelin’ Good” – The Black Skies Ft. Hellbound Glory
We have another cover in the singles round up. This time it was a smoky, heavy, swampy, garage rock version on Nina Simone’s iconic classic “Feelin’ Good”. For me this version takes back ownership of the song from Muse after Matt Bellamy’s somewhat histrionic and over-the-top take on the tune from a few years ago.
“Tell Me With Your Eyes” – Witch Of The East
Witch Of The East returns with a fabulous new song. This is punk, post punk, electro, dance with a goth icing and a pinch of New Order. Based on this, if there is another Witch Of The East album in development it will be bloody wonderful.
“Back-Alley Barn Dance” – I Tell Lies
Get into this band now, then when they break big you can impress your friends by saying you were there at the start. This song is full on rock with large shots of Yard Act and Sleaford Mods and a shady undercurrent of mounting anger. Go see them live as soon as you can!
“Wicked Game” – JW Paris
Gemma, Danny and Aaron returned with a stonking cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game”. It feels like the Velvet Underground made the song originally back in the 60s and then Isaak covered it in 1989. OK, I know that isn’t true, right? This must be top of the list to be on the Twin Peaks soundtrack if there is ever another remake, prequel or sequel. I love that in the blurb to the video on YouTube the band state “Dear lovers, snoggers and nighttime doggers. We’ve recorded a cover of one of our favorites in light of the smoochin’ season” that cracked me up, well the nighttime doggers bit anyway!
“The Bona Fide Money Laundering Society” – Vaquelin
Another banging tune from Vaquelin, it kicks off like Led Zeppelin on Quaaludes and the vocals are classic 70s rock style with a dash of Bowie’s Tin Machine Style. The screaming lead guitar, particularly in the last part of the track is something Mick Ronson would be proud of. The second album from Vaquelin looks like it will be better than the first based on this tune!
“Greed” – The Undercover Hippy
The Undercover Hippy is an expert at protest tunes, because it’s done in a very clever and subtle way. The reggae backing has shades of another great band, Captain Ska. This song questions the greed and or incompetence of our less than industrial leaders. We need more artists like this calling out the scummy liars in government.
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