![\"VIVID16-ANHONI-BALLOT-MICROSITE-1440x900\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/VIVID16-ANHONI-BALLOT-MICROSITE-1440x900.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1\")
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Then came\u00a04 Degrees\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>and even this old philistine had to sit up and take notice.<\/p>\n Anohni’s debut single, released to coincide with last December’s Climate Conference, was an extraordinary mix of stabbing strings, drum loops and coal-black lyrics.<\/p>\n It’s my pleasure to report that\u00a0Hopelessness <\/strong><\/em>firmly delivers on that promise.<\/p>\n With song titles like Drone Bomb Me<\/strong><\/em>,\u00a0An Execution,<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Crisis\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>and\u00a0Violent Men<\/strong><\/em>, it’s clear this is not an album to file under easy listening.<\/p>\n Angry, \u00a0uncompromising, savage and smart, it’s also thrillingly modern, the music given added muscle thanks to a collaboration with US electronics whizz\u00a0Oneohtrix\u00a0<\/strong>Point Never<\/strong> and Scottish producer\/composer\u00a0Hudson Mohawke.<\/strong><\/p>\n Opener\u00a0Drone Bomb Me<\/strong><\/em>, the second single from the album,\u00a0sets the tone for what’s to come.<\/p>\n Described by Anohni as the dream of a young Afghan girl, whose parents have been killed in an unmanned bomb strike, it’s plangent chords evoke the mood of devastation and despair.<\/p>\n As the girl yearns to join her family in death, brutal descriptions of her hoped for demise are conveyed with soaring soulful vocals.<\/p>\n \u201cBlow me from the mountains and into the sea,” the girl entreats.\u00a0“Blow me from the side of the mountain\/blow my head off\/Explode my crystal guts.”<\/p>\n 4 Degrees\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>is up next, the first of a quartet of songs which address the issue of ecocide in a dazzling array of styles.<\/p>\n A rapier to the heart of climate change denial,\u00a04 Degrees<\/em>, is made all the more powerful by being written from the point of view of the polluter.<\/p>\n “I wanna see this world, I wanna see it boil,” the protagonist cries.<\/p>\n “I wanna see the fish go belly up in the sea\/And all those lemurs and all those tiny creatures\/I wanna see them burn.”<\/p>\n Mankind’s appetite for destruction\u00a0is also tackled with contrasting approaches on\u00a0Why<\/strong><\/em> Did You Separate Me From The Earth<\/strong>,\u00a0Hopelessness <\/strong><\/em>and Marrow<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n The anger is ever present, but often packaged in beguiling, seductively sweet melodies and rhythms.<\/p>\n Anohni picks her targets and attacks with real verve, the military-industrial complex coming under fire on tracks like\u00a0Watch Me <\/strong><\/em>and\u00a0Crisis.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Big Brother looms large on\u00a0Watch Me,<\/em> a sly attack on covert surveillance in the light of the Edward Snowden revelations.<\/p>\n Backed by washes of electronica Anohni sarcastically praises a self-appointed father figure who’s “Always watching me\/Protecting me from evil\/protecting me from terrorism”.<\/p>\n Crisis\u00a0<\/em>pointedly questions whether Western military strikes feed a desire for revenge.<\/p>\n “If I killed you father with a drone bomb\/ How would you feel?”<\/p>\n The correlation is firmly established by the end of the song: “Now you\u2019re cutting heads off innocent people on TV”.<\/p>\n Obama\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>puts\u00a0the current incumbent of the White House in the spotlight and the sense of disappointment is palpable.<\/p>\n Sounding like some weird futurist gospel preacher, \u00a0Anohni tells of a world crying for joy at Obama’s election, only to witness him\u00a0 ‘punishing the whistleblowers’ – a clear reference to WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning.<\/p>\n In a dark, treated delivery Anohni delivers her damning verdict on Obama’s administration “Do you recognise the yellow staring back at you?”<\/p>\n The president’s name is then repeatedly endlessly like a mantra or call to prayer against backdrop of static and electronic clatter.<\/p>\n Not a song you’d expect to hear on the Oval Office turntable any time soon.<\/p>\n Countries who continue to apply the death penalty are named and shamed on\u00a0Execution,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>caustically referred to as an ‘American dream’.<\/p>\n All this virulent polemic could have become wearing, but for the breadth of the musical palette that underpins it.<\/p>\n Diverse, distinctive and often strangely beautiful, it’s the protest song reinvented as experimental dance anthem.<\/p>\n Violent Men <\/strong><\/em>is a case in point. Opening with a twisted melody of backwards tape loops, it gives way to Far Eastern influences, with Balinese-style strings and bells chiming.<\/p>\n The provocative nature of the album has been compared to\u00a0MIA<\/strong>‘s shock tactics and there’s some truth in that.<\/p>\n Anohni certainly pulls no punches, even spinning Le Monde’s post \u00a09\/11 gesture of solidarity with America “We Are All Americans” into a waspish insult during\u00a0Marrow<\/strong><\/em>‘s furious invective against corporate greed.<\/p>\n But there’s a also a touch of\u00a0Bjork<\/strong>‘s\u00a0Debut <\/strong><\/em>about the way she’s\u00a0been freed from the constraints of the band environment to explore a whole new landscape of sound.<\/p>\n By showing such willingness to experiment, Anohni has found an outlet for her anger and redefined the spirit of protest for a whole new generation. Not Bad for a first solo effort.<\/p>\n \u2022 Hopelessness is available now\u00a0<\/strong>through Rough Trade Records,\u00a0on iTunes\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and via Amazon<\/span>\u00a0on this link<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n \u2022 Anohni is due to play The Barbican, London on 7 and 8 July this year. <\/strong><\/p>\n Naomi Campbell stars in the\u00a0video<\/strong>\u00a0for<\/strong> Drone<\/em> Bomb Me<\/i>, directed\u00a0by Nabil<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n![\"Review](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/anohni8004.jpg?resize=640%2C826&ssl=1\")