My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross by Anohni and the Johnsons

It’s a travesty that Anohni with and without her band, the Johnsons, has never appeared on the Bacon Review Top 31. They’ve been making stellar music since their 2000 self-titled debut. There have been two “and the Johnsons” albums that could have been featured: their fourth, 2009’s The Crying Light, and their fifth, 2010’s Swanlights. And not including Anohni’s 2016 amazing solo debut, Hopelessness, on the Top 31 that year was such an egregious transgression I even wrote about it a bit after the fact.. I only wish including their stellar 2023 album My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross made up for all those misses. It won’t, but I’m going to give it a try nonetheless.

Anohni Hegarty, formerly Antony, is a singer, songwriter, artist and anything but simple. She is British-born, New York City-based, and Oscar-nominated, for her collaboration with J. Ralph on the climate-change driven song “Manta Ray” from the 2016 documentary Racing Extinction, becoming the first openly transgender performer nominated for an Academy Award. Her solo album, Hopelessness, which featured production by Oneohtrix Point Never, won me over with Anohni’s deep, vibrato-laden voice played over the top of driving electronic beats. Bridge, here in 2023, is a departure and/or return to form, depending on how you look at it. It’s been 13 years since she last released an album with the Johnsons. Combine her rekindled relationship with that producer Jimmy Hogarth, who has work with Amy Winehouse, Sia, and Tina Turner, and you end up with 41 minutes of distinct Anohni-driven soul.

In an interview in The Guardian, Anohni and Hogarth aimed to channel Nina Simone and jazz singer Jimmy Scott. From my somewhat untrained-ear position, I can feel the connection to Simone pretty strongly. This album was recorded in a more immediate fashion than Anohni’s previous, tedious-attention-focused-on-every-note productions. All told, the album took roughly only two weeks to complete, with the band creating a remarkable 3-4 songs a day in that time.

There have been four videos created for the album:

the above, “Scapegoat”
“Why Am I Alive Now?”
“Sliver of Ice”
“It Must Change”

The cover of the album features a black and white portrait of noted outspoken American gay liberation activist Marsha P. Johnson, one of Anohni’s heroes. According to that same article in The Guardian, Anohni met Johnson just six days before Johnson was murdered in 1992 (still an open case). Anohni had been and remains so moved by what Johnson did and stood for, Anohni named her backing band after Johnson in tribute.

This is a slow-burner of an album that carries a heaviness unlike any other. It feels like a weighted blanket draped over your body, cozy and warm. Put on the record, light a fire, and just let it unfold.