The Crying Light is Antony and the Johnsons

Antony and the Johnsons

Antony and the Johnsons is a music group presenting the work of Antony Hegarty and his collaborators.-Career:British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Antony's music through his Durtro label. The debut album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released...

' third studio album and the follow-up to the band's widely-acclaimed second LP, I Am a Bird Now

I Am a Bird Now

I Am a Bird Now is the second album by New York City band Antony and the Johnsons. It won the Mercury Music Prize on September 6, 2005. After winning the prize, the album shot up the UK albums chart from #135 to #16 in one week, the biggest jump in the history of the Mercury Music Prize...

.
The album was released on January 19, 2009, and preceded by lead single, "Another World

Another World (EP)

Another World is an EP by Antony and the Johnsons released on October 7, 2008 on compact disc and 12" vinyl. It precedes Antony and the Johnsons third album, The Crying Light...

", released through Secretly Canadian

Secretly Canadian

Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana. It was started in 1996 by Chris and Ben Swanson, Eric Weddle, and Jonathan Cargill. Their first release was a re-issue of an album by June Panic...

 on October 7, 2008.
The Crying Light features orchestral arrangements by Antony

Antony Hegarty

Antony Hegarty is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons.-Early life:...

 and Nico Muhly

Nico Muhly

Nico Muhly is a contemporary classical music composer, who has worked and recorded with classical and pop/rock musicians. He currently lives in the Lower East Side section of Manhattan in New York City.-Early years:...

.

The album was released digitally in advance of the release. Some pre-orders contained an alternate version of "Another World". Pre-orders of the physical album from Antony's official website facilitated a full album download, including bonus track "My Lord My Love", a week prior to the official release.

The album peaked in the Billboard European Top 100 at Number 1.

Antony has described the theme of the album as being "about landscape and the future."

Ann Powers wrote of The Crying Light for the LA Times online, “It's the most personal environmentalist statement possible, making an unforeseen connection between queer culture's identity politics and the green movement. As music, it's simply exquisite -- more controlled and considered than anything Antony and the Johnsons have done and sure to linger in the minds of listeners."

Tours

In anticipation of The Crying Light, Antony and the Johnsons scheduled 7 symphony concerts in 2008, including at the Barbican with the London Symphony Orchestra and at Disney Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. These concerts were conducted by Jim Holmes and Rob Moose, with scores arranged by Nico Muhly.

Antony and the Johnsons toured throughout North America and Europe in support of The Crying Light between February and June 2009.

Antony then went on to present a unique staging of "The Crying Light" in collaboration with the Manchester Camerata (conducted by Rob Moose) at the Manchester Opera House for the 2009 Manchester International Festival

Manchester International Festival

The Manchester International Festival is an international cultural festival of original new work, held in the English city of Manchester. It is a biennial event, first taking place in June–July 2007, and subsequently recurring in the summers of 2009 and 2011...

. The concert hall was transformed into a crystal cave constructed by Carl Robertshaw and filled with laser effects created by installation artist Chris Levine in collaboration with lighting designer Paul Normandale.

Antony and the Johnsons have gone on to present concerts with symphonies across Europe in Summer 2009, including with the Opera Orchestra of Lyon, the Metropole Orchestra, Roma Sinfonietta and the Montreux Jazz Festival Orchestra.

Artwork

The album's cover artwork features a 1977 photograph of butoh

Butoh

is the collective name for a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement inspired by the movement. It typically involves playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally performed in white body makeup...

 dancer Kazuo Ohno

Kazuo Ohno

was a Japanese dancer who became a guru and inspirational figure in the dance form known as Butoh. It was written of him that his very presence was an "artistic fact."...

, by Naoya Ikegami. Antony said of the image: "The Crying Light is dedicated to the great dancer Kazuo Ohno. In performance I watched him cast a circle of light upon the stage, and step into that circle, and reveal the dreams and reveries of his heart. He seemed to dance in the eye of something mysterious and creative; with every gesture he embodied the child and the feminine divine. He's kind of like my art parent."

A music video for the single "Epilepsy Is Dancing" was produced by the Wachowski brothers and featured Johanna Constantine, SF choreographer Sean Dorsey and the design of painters Tino Rodríguez

Tino Rodríguez

Tino Rodríguez is a Mexican-American painter. Born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, Rodriguez was influenced by the symbolism and themes evident in the Catholic churches of his youth. His work was also influenced by his absorption of fairy tales....

 and Virgo Paraiso.

Track listing

Written by Antony Hegarty, except where noted.

1. "Her Eyes Are Underneath the Ground" (Antony & Nick Hegarty) – 4:24
2. "Epilepsy Is Dancing
   Epilepsy Is Dancing
   "Epilepsy is Dancing" is the first single from Antony and the Johnsons' 2009 album The Crying Light, released on April 6 licenced through Secretly Canadian , and Rough Trade ....
   
   " – 2:42
3. "One Dove" (Antony & Barry Reynolds) – 5:34
4. "Kiss My Name" – 2:48
5. "The Crying Light" – 3:18
6. "Another World
   Another World (EP)
   Another World is an EP by Antony and the Johnsons released on October 7, 2008 on compact disc and 12" vinyl. It precedes Antony and the Johnsons third album, The Crying Light...
   
   " – 4:00
7. "Daylight and the Sun" – 6:21
8. "Aeon" – 4:35
9. "Dust and Water" – 2:50
10. "Everglade" – 2:58

"My Lord My Love" (Secretly Canadian pre-order bonus track) – 3:17

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
European Albums Billboard Top 100	1
Belgian Albums Charts Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995...  (Flanders)	1
Spanish Albums Chart (Promusicae)	2
Sweden Albums Chart	2
Denmark Albums Chart	3
France Albums Chart	4
Netherlands Albums Chart	4
Norway Albums Chart	4
Swiss Albums Chart	7
Italian Albums Chart	9
German Albums Chart	15
UK Album Chart	18
Finnish Albums Chart	23
Australian Albums Chart	33
U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	65