''I Am a Bird Now'' is the second album by

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

band Antony and the Johnsons. It won the

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

on September 6, 2005. After winning the prize, the album shot up the UK albums chart from #135 to #16 in one week, the biggest jump in the history of the Mercury Music Prize.Antony & The Johnsons album sales soar

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

. 13 September 2005. Retrieved 3 July 2011. As of September 2011, UK sales stood at 220,000 copies. The album features guest appearances by

Rufus Wainwright Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded 10 studio albums and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical operas and set ...

("What Can I Do?"), Devendra Banhart,

Joan Wasser Joan Wasser (born July 26, 1970) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and producer who releases music as Joan As Police Woman. She began her career playing violin with the Dambuilders and played with Black Beetle, Antony and the Johnsons, ...

and by lead singer Anohni's childhood heroes

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singer ...

and Lou Reed.Antony And The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

. Retrieved 3 July 2011. The cover is a photograph by

Peter Hujar Peter Hujar (October 11, 1934 – November 26, 1987) was an American photographer best known for his black and white portraits. He has been recognized posthumously as a major American photographer of the late-twentieth century. Yet Hujar's work r ...

Warhol superstar Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by the pop artist Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life, epitomizing his fam ...

Candy Darling Candy Darling (November 24, 1944 – March 21, 1974) was an American actress, best known as a Warhol superstar and transgender icon. She starred in Andy Warhol's films ''Flesh'' (1968) and '' Women in Revolt'' (1971), and was a muse of The Velve ...

on her deathbed (aptly titled "Candy Darling on Her Deathbed").I Am a Bird Now - Credits

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

. Retrieved 3 July 2011.

Reception

''I Am a Bird Now'' received very positive reviews. On the review aggregate site

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the album has a score of 88 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim." '' Drowned in Sound''s Anthony Gibbons gave the album a score of 10/10, writing "It's not an exaggeration. This isn't hype. ''I Am A Bird Now'' is a beautiful, emotive, glorious, and sometimes sinister album that will top many a critic's list come the end-of-year polls, and justifiably so." ''

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, ...

'' also gave the album a perfect score, writing "This music grabs a hold of you and doesn't let go. It feels timeless and gorgeous and bigger than life. It may not be 'soul' in the strict, music appreciation 101 sense, but it could make even the most jaded atheist approach a metaphysical regard... I'd put on my critic's cap and dive into scrutiny, but I am too enraptured by this artist's music." ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

''s Brandon Stosuy praised the vocals, writing "The ultimate draw is nohni'svoice, and within the first two seconds of the album, it should be very clear to even the most unaware newbies that nohnihas an amazing

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blu ...

Brian Ferry Bryan Ferry CBE (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established a distinctive image and sartorial style: according to ''The Independent'', Ferry and ...

'sic''

Jimmy Scott James Victor Scott (July 17, 1925 – June 12, 2014), known professionally as Little Jimmy Scott or Jimmy Scott, was an American jazz vocalist known for his high natural contralto voice and his sensitivity on ballads and love songs. After ...

vibrato Vibrato ( Italian, from past participle of " vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms ...

, a multi-octave siren that would sound painfully lovely no matter what hewas saying." The album has appeared on several end of year lists. ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...

'' named ''I Am a Bird Now'' the best album of 2005.Mojo End Of year Lists
Rocklist.net. Retrieved 3 July 2011 ''Pitchfork'' ranked the album #5 on its list of the top 50 albums of 2005.''Pitchfork'' Staff
Top 50 Albums of 2005
''

''. 31 December 2005. Retrieved 3 July 2011. On the same website, the track " Hope There's Someone" was ranked #28 on their list of the Top 500 Songs of the 2000s and was selected as 2005's best single.''Pitchfork'' Staff
The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s: 50-21
''

''. 20 August 2009. Retrieved 3 July 2011.''Pitchfork'' Staff
Top 50 Singles of 2005
''

''. 30 December 2005. Retrieved 3 July 2011 In 2019, the album was ranked 40th on ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

s 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century list.

Track listing

Personnel

The following people contributed to ''I Am a Bird Now:''

ANOHNI and the Johnsons

* ANOHNI – organ, piano, vocals *

Julia Kent Julia Kent is a Canadian cellist and composer from Vancouver, Canada, and based in New York City, United States. She has performed as a member of Rasputina (band), Rasputina and with Antony and the Johnsons. Musical career Kent creates music us ...

–

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

* Tahrah Cohen – drums *Jeff Langston – bass *Maxim Moston –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

*Doug Wieselman –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

Additional personnel

* Devendra Banhart –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

(Track 5),

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

(Track 8) *Steve Bernstein –

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

*John Bollinger - drums (Track 5) *Keith Bonner - flute *

– vocals (Track 5) *

Parker Kindred Parker Kindred is an American drummer who played in the band of Jeff Buckley, appearing on his unfinished second album, ''Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk'' in 1997, as well as playing live with Buckley and the rest of his band at Arlene's Gr ...

- drums (Track 7) *Danielle Farina -

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

(Tracks 2,9) *Jason Hart –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

(Track 6) *Rainy Orteca - bass (Track 7) * Lou Reed – guitar and vocals (Track 7) * Paul Shapiro – horn *

– vocals (Track 6) *

– viola *Julia Yasuda - Morse Code, vocals (Track 9) *

Emery Dobyns Emery Dobyns is an American record producer and songwriter, formerly based in Manhattan in New York City, but now based in Nashville. In late 2021 Dobyns produced and mixed "The Masked Singer EP" for Jewel (singer). He is currently co-producing th ...

- Engineer and mixer.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

Certifications and sales

References

External links

''I Am A Bird Now'' at Discogs

''I Am A Bird Now''
statistics and tagging at Last.FM
''I Am A Bird Now'' press release
at Secretly Canadian {{Authority control 2005 albums Antony and the Johnsons albums Mercury Prize-winning albums Secretly Canadian albums Transgender-related music LGBT-related albums