, which announced a radical pivot from the piano-led balladry of her previous records. Written from the perspective of a nine-year-old Afghani girl whose father has been killed by a U.S. drone strike, praying to be put out of her misery by the same means herself, “Drone Bomb Me” served as an entrée to’s epic sweep: its lyrical subjects ranging from the climate crisis, to U.S.
It’s a testament to the power of Anohni’s songwriting that the record still honors the spirit of protest music that coursed throughjust with more familiar textures: notably, in the fuzzy electric guitar licks, saxophones, and strings that hark back to the golden age of soul music. “I mean, to be clear, the album isn't really a soul record, but there are some songs that are influenced by it, and Iwant to talk about soul music,” she says.
It’s when turning to the subject of Future Feminism that Anohni is most enthused. “We initiated [the project] at a time when there really was a lull in popular usage of the word feminism, you know,” she says. “It’s hard to imagine that now, but 12, 13 years ago, people weren’t using that word—in popular culture, it was sort of taboo.
I feel ashamed, and I feel exhausted and I’m horrified by the fact that I've been drawn into complicity in this murderous drone bombing campaign and the fact that I’m burning animals in the forest alive,Photo by Anohni with Nomi Ruiz, courtesy of Rebis Musicdoes contain its own moments of palpable fury and frustration: “You are determined to take me down / I don’t stop you, I won’t stop you,” she sings, erupting, over the scuzzy guitar riffs of “Go Ahead,” while the delicate, twinkling...