Antony Hegarty on His New Book, Album, and Plan for Mandatory Estrogen Treatments for World Leaders
* 10/26/10 at 6:30 PM
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/10/antony_johnson_on_hell_chicken.htmlAntony and the Johnsons' 2009 album The Crying Light felt like the apex of everything the enigmatic singer and gay icon Antony Hegarty had been attempting to express since forming the band in 1997. It took the swirling chaos of his greatest inspirations, insecurities, and fears and compressed them into a delicate array of restrained, tense, and emotionally devastating songs. The album made him a star. And stars can change things up, which is exactly what Hegarty has done on his fourth album, Swanlights. The record is as feral and unbridled (his words) as Crying Light was elegant and controlled. Along with the willfully chaotic new album, Hegarty is releasing a book, also called Swanlights, which includes collages, photographs, and writing collected during the time he worked on the record. Vulture's straightforward discussion of Hegarty's creative process evolved into a madcap treatise on everything from the Buddhist concept of the hell realm to the virus of human beings and why men should be forcibly subjected to hormone therapy.
