Demob Happy

His lady story

8/10

Antony is an entirely singular voice, and if you aren’t the type who likes to have their expectations challenged then this isn’t the record for you. Somewhere between soul music and tortured folk, Antony is a troubled troubador to rank with the greatest. An androgynous cabaret singer and pianist, he sings largely on themes of transgenderism and other complex notions of (sexual) identity, with lyrics like ‘My lady Story is one of breast amputation’!. It may not be something a mainstream rock audience can easily identify with, but with moments of devestating universal beauty like ‘Spiralling’ I am easily won over.

Other highlights are the beautiful soul harmonies of ‘My Lady Story’, the sombre ‘Man Is The Baby’ and the feeling of emancipation expressed by the light and gorgeous closer ‘Bird Gerhl’. There discreet guest spots from Rufus Wainright, Lou Reed, Devandra Berhhart and Boy George, but there are only eight tracks proper, with ‘What Can I Do?’ being only a minute and a half long, and ‘Free At Last just an instrumental vignette – though very nice – based around a spoken word sample. A truely original voice.