ANOHNI's first album in 13 years with her forever-shapeshifting Johnsons is a return home — abandoning the chrome-buffed enormity of 2016's HOPELESSNESS, My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross is a swirling collection of art-damaged blue-eyed soul, a record that finds ANOHNI embodying the rich, gale-force voices that informed her incomparable singing.
Despite its musical ear tuned to the past, however, My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross lives defiantly in the present, arms outstretched to the rapidly fading future. A hot-blooded elegy to everyone and everything we've lost, the record is less a call to action than a call to rest — battles and lives have been lost and time continues to tick away; here is a pace to lay your head and hold what's left close to your beating chest.
From the Ono-esque scrape of "Go Ahead" to the shimmering groove of "It Must Change" or bittersweet confetti cannon pop of "Can't," My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross finds ANOHNI in fits of strange rapture as often as it does lost in the frosty dirges of "Sliver of Ice" or the vengeful, heartbreaking "Scapegoat."
There's no one else like ANOHNI — no one else with her ear, her past, her rage, her forgiveness. We're endlessly lucky to be given another chance to listen.
(Secretly Canadian)Despite its musical ear tuned to the past, however, My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross lives defiantly in the present, arms outstretched to the rapidly fading future. A hot-blooded elegy to everyone and everything we've lost, the record is less a call to action than a call to rest — battles and lives have been lost and time continues to tick away; here is a pace to lay your head and hold what's left close to your beating chest.
From the Ono-esque scrape of "Go Ahead" to the shimmering groove of "It Must Change" or bittersweet confetti cannon pop of "Can't," My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross finds ANOHNI in fits of strange rapture as often as it does lost in the frosty dirges of "Sliver of Ice" or the vengeful, heartbreaking "Scapegoat."
There's no one else like ANOHNI — no one else with her ear, her past, her rage, her forgiveness. We're endlessly lucky to be given another chance to listen.
