Join the Resistance

Join the Resistance

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Join the Resistance
photo: Supplied

On her latest record, the transgender eco-feminist warrior makes a case for more activist dialogue and the remedial powers of women.

Anohni/ Paradise EP

Last year, Anohni, the artist formerly known as Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons fame, released one of the most poignantly political records called Hopelessness. On that body of work, she offered up a collection of rugged electropop and fierce protest songs, touching upon a variety of social and political conditions in post-9/11 America (and, by extension, the world) from climate change and mass surveillance to drone warfare and toxic masculinity. It was indeed already a thematically dense album even before Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States nine months later.

Teaming up once again with electronic co-producers Hudson Mohawke and Oneohtrix Point Never, Anohni follows up on that opus with a six-track companion EP, Paradise. Take a glance at its artwork which features the same nine portraits of women projected at her live shows, it's clear that she's turning her focus to womanhood. This corresponds to the accompanying statement in which she suggested, "Only an intervention by women around the world, with their innate knowledge of interdependency, deep listening, empathy and self-sacrifice, could possibly alter our species' desperate course."

Without beating around the bush, the title track/lead single reiterates the overall theme of Anohni's previous LP. "Paradise/World without end/Hopelessness/Sinks into the earth," she begins over twitching percussion before likening masculinity to a threat to Mother Earth. "My mother's love/Her gentle touch/My father's hand/Rests on my throat." Jesus Will Kill You and its harsh, dissonant industrial production expands on Hopelessness as she continues to hold those in power accountable with pointed lyrics: "What's your legacy? Burning fields in Iraq/Burning fields in Nigeria/ Burning oceans/Burning populations/Our burning lungs."

The hymn-like You Are My Enemy circles back to the feminist theme and how masculinity is deeply instrumental to ecocide ("You poured from my body/On a river of blood/You poured out and into the light/I gave birth to my own enemy"). The shimmering Ricochet, on the other hand, finds her lambasting the man upstairs for creating the notion of life after death ("When I die and gone/I find I carry on/I'm gonna hate you, my God…And if this keeps going/Gonna curse you, my God"). She Doesn't Mourn Her Loss then concludes the EP with a dystopian narrative and a speech by Aboriginal artist Ngalangka Nola Taylor who plainly asks, "How are we going to make the world a better place to live for all of us?"

While Hopelessness was largely didactic in its intention and addressing a wide range of issues, Paradise is a powerful, singular representation of how Mother Earth has unrelentingly been ravaged by corporations and government. Not only does the electronic production convey the artist's unwavering resistance, it also works in tandem with her stirring vocals as the rallying cry for the rest of us to take action and affect social change.

THE PLAYLIST

Singto Numchok/ R U OK (Ched)

Thailand's ukulele king Singto Numchok is putting away his favourite instrument on R U OK (Ched), the third single taken from his upcoming third LP, Just Have Fun With It. The singer-songwriter eschews his signature surf-pop vibe in favour of complete studio sheen. So, instead of the usual breezy acoustic guitar, in its place are piano, drum machine and an undercurrent of R&B flourishes. As a cherry on top, Singto also showcases his rapping skills here, which are actually pretty decent.

Fleet Foxes / Third of May / Õdaigahara

Third of May / Õdaigahara is the first taste of Fleet Foxes' forthcoming third studio LP Crack-Up. The track's title refers to the release date of their last album, 2011's Helplessness Blues, as well as guitarist Skyler Skjelset's birthday. The nine-minute, ever-evolving suite finds vocalist Robin Pecknold singing about his long-enduring relationship with Skjelset ("Now, back in our town as a castaway/I'm reminded of the time it all fell in line, on the third of May…Aren't we made to be crowded together, like leaves?"). Though largely experimental, the song still retains many of the classic Fleet Foxes qualities: lush harmonies, stirring instrumentation and wistful folk melodies.

Goldfrapp/ Ocean

If you were hoping to hear some of that bass-driven electro-pop goodness on Silver Eye lead single Anymore, you'll be sorely disappointed for its follow-up, Ocean, is a different beast entirely. Underpinned by a foreboding electronica production, the track offers a healthy serving of crushing broodiness. "A bow of bones, a bowl of skin/To save me from the hell I'm in," Alison Goldfrapp sings in her breathy, menacing voice. "Your fantasy/And every time I think of you/I see the dark, I hear the hills/They're coming/They're coming for you."

ionnalee/ Samaritan

Swedish songstress Jonna Lee returns as ionnalee, a new artistic incarnation/solo project that follows her sublime audiovisual endeavour iamamiwhoami. Here, we're treated to pop-leaning lead single Samaritan which finds Lee addressing the fact that female artists are pressured to "live up to a real unhealthy ideal" and how it's her responsibility to change it. "I don't believe in a god, let's leave religion out of all this/I don't remember promising my life and soul to bring you all bliss," she sings during the chorus, simultaneously calling out fervent pop fans everywhere.

Bad Wave/ 1955

Yes, there's another band with the word "wave" in its name. And, before you roll your eyes, no, they're not a run-of-the-mill dream-pop act. Made up of Patrick Hart and Tucker Tota, the LA duo Bad Wave make textured indie-pop that sounds epic. A follow-up to previous cuts Daniel and Time To Get Lost, their latest offering 1955 is an ode to those nostalgic feelings for the future complete with shimmering synths and a rousing chorus: "So come on, send me fire! Send me hot lights flashing!/Come on, give me noise!/Give me deep waves crashing!"

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