Anthony

Anthony Reynolds may have stepped out from behind the "Jack/Jacques” pseudonyms of his previous band and solo work, but he has not shed his romantic aesthetic along with them. In fact, Neu York may be even more candlelit and red wine soaked than anything from before. Like contemporaries (and collaborators on this album) Momus and the Divine Comedy, Anthony’s songs have a swooning and woozy lightness that masks the darker text lying beneath. "Dear Melvyn,” for instance could be a "Hey Donna” reengineered by Lou Reed in his Transformer period. A variety of recording techniques and levels of fidelity, gives the album a time-shifted quality, pitting ’60s sugar pop melodies against harder modern beats backed by ’70s Bowie-style acoustic guitar. The album’s mood veers between world-weariness and giddy anticipation, like an existential bipolar barfly’s musings. Diverse and poetic, veering into the experimental world of found sounds and spoken passages, Neu York is a darkly rich cabaret, which is what life alleged is too, yes?