Baby Dee
A Book of Songs for Anne Marie
Album Release date: 15/03/2010
by Alexander Tudor
10:58 March 11th, 2010
http://drownedinsound.com/releases/15185/reviews/4139340 (http://drownedinsound.com/releases/15185/reviews/4139340)
As a Current 93 and Antony collaborator (but not quite a Johnson), as well as a Will Oldham protégée, Baby Dee has been on the radar for quite a while, playing piano, harp, and accordion for numerous artists who might be described as 'indie-cabaret', or who flirt with the more mannered and theatrical traditions of song (Marc Almond, Dresden Dolls). Being transgender, but not exactly well-equipped to 'pass', it makes sense that Baby Dee is part of a scene that has a more complex take on identity – that relishes glamour, but also articulates more mystical, esoteric ideas about transformation, the godliness of self-making, the exquisite pathos of being trapped in this world and body... until art and artifice provides an escape. The last thing you'd say about any of the above is that they 'just like queening around'.