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When I first heard Antony and the Johnsons, it was on a CD given to me by a good friend who sends me nameless albums so that I can "listen without prejudice".

When I heard this CD, I asked my friend who the woman singing was – I pictured a black woman, someone along the lines of Nina Simone, singing in a trembling falsetto, slave-like, that reminded me of a character in Toni Morrison's 'Beloved'.

Antony and the Johnsons are unlike anything you've heard before and yet they sound like they've been here forever. 'I am a Bird Now' is an album that will haunt you.

Sung mostly in a trembling falsetto that is as beautiful as it is androgynous, each syllable is delivered with such honesty that you'll fall in love with Antony by the second line.

The music is hard to describe. It's folksy with a touch of cabaret in parts, most of the instrumentation being provided by a lilting, downbeat piano. But it's Antony's voice that is something to behold, an instrument that is pain and beauty, misery and rage, woman and man all at once.

Backed by Lou Reed, Devendra Banhart, Boy George and Rufus Wainwright, Antony is not without help on this release — but he's the star of this show: honest, confessional and incredibly giving, his soul is carried in the gorgeous strength of his voice, and it's lovely words.

Highlights include the heartfelt and fearful 'Hope There's Someone':

I'm scared of the mirror place between life and nowhere
I don't want to be the one left in there

And the brilliant and theatrical 'Fistful of Love':

I feel your fist
And I know it's out of love
And I feel the whip
And I know it's out of love

And I accept and I collect
upon my body
the memories of your devotion

In 'Spiralling', Antony's voice soars to incredible places, backed by a triumphant piano and beautiful violin.

It's in 'For Today I am a Buoy' that he is at his most confessional:

One day I'll grow old and be a beautiful woman
One day I'll grow up and be a beautiful girl
But for today I am a child
For today I am a boy

Here, big drum rolls and symbol crashes add a cabaret feel that is undercut by a mournful, bleeding piano.

Young and old, naïve and wise, this album of opposites coming together in one tortured, exquisite production is so lovely it demands that you accept it… and cradle it in your arms.

What the overseas reviews said:

"A sort of avant-cabaret musical theater that embraces a David Lynch-like moodiness and experimental-folk mystery, intimate confession and theatrical grandeur." – Los Angeles Times

Majestic while confronting his mortal fears on the gospel-hued Hope There's Someone, childlike and life-affirming on For Today I Am a Boy, he is never less than a class act. – The Guardian

"Antony is the dominant voice of solitude and agonized waiting." – Rolling Stone

"This is tough, honest, uncompromising beauty and the next great voice in music." - Mojo

'I Am a Bird Now' is available on import through Sheer Music.