Album Review: ANOHNI and the Johnsons, My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross

Marvin Gaye’s magnum opus What’s Going On is cited by ANOHNI as a major influence on My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross, her inspiring and evocative sixth studio album. Indeed, from the first bars of album opener and lead single ‘It Must Be Change’, the spirit of the Prince of Motown is definitely present.

ANOHNI repeatedly warbling “this is so sad” at track’s end is as poignant as it is frustrating, with the same horrific issues that anguished Marvin – ecocide, inequality and alienation – still grinding away. Still, the perseverance of beautiful, noble ideals is a crucial and essential resistance, which ANOHNI embodies on track after track across this powerful record.

The Bowie/Eno-fused ‘Go Ahead’ hauntingly mimics the perspective of the haters. The awful shrieks sounding like grating guitar feedback, though, are actually the screaming of a lemur! ANOHNI returns fire with a Nina Simone calibre of strength and beauty in ‘Sliver Of Ice’ - a goodbye song to her dear friend Lou Reed -and across the steely jazz-rock of ‘Can’t’.

Summoning the strength of Marsha P. Johnson, the legendary queer rights activist - a monochrome portrait of whom is emblazoned on the album sleeve - ANOHNI pays homage to a woman who has long been a spiritual guide (her band is named after Johnson).

The album is a wonderfully complex takedown of the binary, with special mention due to producer Jimmy Hogarth, with whom ANOHNI clearly has great chemistry. Fantastic stuff.

Key track – ‘Rest’
Score: 8/10

Out now via Rough Trade/Secretly Canadian.

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