Albums to watch

My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross

Anohni

My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross

Second solo album of soulful electronica and first in seven years from the former singer of Antony and the Johnsons

ADM rating[?]

8.2

Label
Rough Trade
UK Release date
07/07/2023
US Release date
07/07/2023
  1. 10.0 |   The Observer

    Recorded at speed, Anohni’s first album since 2016 adds a soulful swagger to poetic, cathartic rock
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  2. 9.3 |   Paste Magazine

    On her first album with the Johnsons in 13 years, ANOHNI fashions a masterpiece about trans survival in the wake of ecocide, alienation, prejudice and violence
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  3. 9.0 |   Uncut

    A stunning record. Print edition only

  4. 9.0 |   Crack

    Anohni’s true talent, even beyond her voice and writing, is the ability to transmogrify her pain into something breathtakingly gorgeous. She is the personification of a lighthouse shining through a nasty tempest – and despite the storms, hope truly does spring eternal
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  5. 9.0 |   Clash

    Theatrical and majestic, ANOHNI’s supple world-building acts as a mirror to her soul – ‘My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross’ may well be her masterpiece
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  6. 9.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    Pain colours My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross, but there’s also an abundance of life, and an outstretched hand. ANOHNI documents it all, to nourish those who move forward
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  7. 8.7 |   Pitchfork

    After 13 years, Anohni gets the band back together for a soulful and intense record that provides a safe place to grieve nothing less than the destruction of the planet
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  8. 8.5 |   The Quietus

    There’s an endearing humanity permeating her performance across this masterful record, undoubtedly enhanced by the fact that some of the vocal takes which made the cut were first takes
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  9. 8.5 |   Northern Transmissions

    As Marsha P. Johnson and Marvin Gaye had and impact on ANOHNI, perhaps another generation of Johnsons are waiting in the wings to make this a better world. There may yet be hope for the optimists
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  10. 8.5 |   Beats Per Minute

    Anohni’s capacity to embody an emotion but not over-personalize it to the point that relatability is compromised is on full display
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  11. 8.0 |   Record Collector

    ANOHNI returns with her …And The Johnsons name and a mellower set of laments for global inequities after the protest bite of 2016’s HOPELESSNESS
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  12. 8.0 |   Spectrum Culture

    ANOHNI makes beautiful music to engage with truly ugly things, but even as she confronts the dying of the world and the violence perpetrated against her community, she’s able to rend aching (or, sometimes, joyous) beauty from it
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  13. 8.0 |   Evening Standard

    Much more strident on her last album, Hopelessness, here she mostly sounds resigned and mournful
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  14. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    The New York singer’s voice will make you shiver as it soars over simple guitar, bass and drums on her most approachable album since the mid-00s
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  15. 8.0 |   Mojo

    It's a record of fierce seriousness, a demand for engagement as inescapable and immediate as somebody shaking you by the shoulders. Print edition only

  16. 8.0 |   musicOMH

    That voice and lush arrangements recall that breed of vintage soul vocalists who balance suave sophistication with gut-wrenching emotion: Smokey Robinson, Al Green and, especially, Marvin Gaye
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  17. 8.0 |   NME

    On her first album in seven years, Anohni eschews experimental sonics for warm vintage soul, but the results are no less vital
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  18. 8.0 |   The Arts Desk

    There's a terrifyingly raw portrait of staring death in the face, and elsewhere there’s the sense, too, of facing up to ecological catastrophe
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  19. 8.0 |   Rolling Stone

    The push and pull of passiveness and assertiveness on My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross feels organic at every turn. Sometimes the music can be a little too loose, careening like an out-of-control car (especially on the discordant “Go Ahead”), but the slackness is worth the freedom of hearing Anohni’s voice fly like the bird she became years ago
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  20. 8.0 |   A.V. Club

    She’s learned that freedom is a continuing, intergenerational acquisition; in this cultural and ecological continuum, it’s a promising possibility that we as a force must never, ever relinquish
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  21. 8.0 |   DIY

    Expect to cry - then get fired up
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  22. 8.0 |   All Music

    A powerful return, My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross reaffirms that Anohni & the Johnsons' ability to confront the hardest issues and moments is as eloquent and relevant as ever
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  23. 6.0 |   Slant Magazine

    The album’s laidback and unfussy arrangements underserve the artist’s anguished storytelling
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  24. 6.0 |   The Irish Times

    Ambitious and important
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