Visually and conceptually, the cover for Antony & The Johnsons’ forthcoming The Crying Light links directly to album art (and title track) for the recent Another World EP. (If you don’t remember what it looked like, take another look.) Both feature the Butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno, this one a 1977 photo by Naoya Ikegami. Antony explains his interest in Ohno:

My new album The Crying Light is dedicated to the great dancer Kazuo Ohno. In performance I watched him cast a circle of light upon the stage, and step into that circle, and reveal the dreams and reveries of his heart. He seemed to dance in the eye of something mysterious and creative; with every gesture he embodied the child and the feminine divine. He’s kind of like my art parent.

Take a look.

At least tonally, and with this idea of intimate portraiture, it pairs oddly well with the 1974 Peter Hujar photo of Candy Darling on the cover of I Am A Bird Now. The tracklist:

01 “Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground”
02 “Epilepsy Is Dancing”
03 “One Dove”
04 “Kiss My Name”
05 “The Crying Light”
06 “Another World”
07 “Daylight And The Sun”
08 “Aeon”
09 “Dust and Water”
10 “Everglade”

The Crying Light is out 1/19 in the UK via Rough Trade and 1/20 in the US via Secretly Canadian. You can catch A on tour. European dates to come.

02/02 – Glenside, PA @ Keswick Theatre
02/03 – Washington, DC @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
02/04 – Columbus, OH @ Southern Theatre
02/07 – Knoxville, TN @ Big Ears Festival
02/08 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
02/12 – Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre
02/13 – Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater
02/14 – Minneapolis, MN @ Pantages Theatre
02/17 – Toronto, ON @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
02/19 – New York, NY @ Town Hall
02/20 – New York, NY @ Town Hall
02/22 – Boston, MA @ Berklee Performance Center
02/24 – San Francisco, CA @ Nob Hill Masonic Center
02/27 – Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
02/28 – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre