Anohni is not afraid to be political. This was obvious with her previous release, 2016’s critically acclaimed Hopelessness, where songs like ‘Violent Men’ and ‘Crisis’ were an angry manifestation of a frustration at the state of modern society. While similar thematically, Paradise is a more despondent reflection, slowly building with the quiet and human admission that “in my dreams, you don’t love me” (‘In My Dreams’). This refrain sets a scene for the emotions of the six-track EP. Paradise, Anohni’s sophomore release (outside of those albums she released as part of Antony and the Johnsons) shares the same anger, and…
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For her first release since disbanding Antony and the Johnsons, Anohni has changed not just her name, but her sound as well. Gone are the doleful torch ballads of Antony and the Johnsons (1998) and I am a Bird Now (2005), and the intricate chamber arrangements of The Crying Light (2009) and Swanlights (2010). In their place are electronic soundscapes rooted in the sensibilities of the record’s two producers – the harder edges of Hudson Mohawke marrying surprisingly easily with the more amorphous textures of Oneohtrix Point Never. The change of sound is drastic, but arguably necessary, Antony and the Johnsons having proceeded to a logical…