Sometimes A Feeling Is Reason Enough

Anohni “Execution”

The far left politics of Anohni’s Hopelessness isn’t merely “on the nose.” It is a full-scale attack on the nose, and by the time the record is over, there is just a pile of pulp and rubble where the nose used to be. It’s a shameless work of agitprop, and so fixed in a specific time and place that it already sounds sorta dated. But that lack of shame is what makes it compelling and interesting – she knows that being so straightforward and literal in her critique of Obama-era America is going to make a lot of people cringe, but her idealism is so strong that it’s like, fuck it, let ‘em cringe! I will be honest with you: As a fairly moderate and pragmatic liberal, a good chunk of Hopelessness makes me cringe SO HARD, but not because I disagree. I cringe more because I generally agree with what she’s singing, but can’t relate to being so idealistic and intense. I relate more to expressions of defeat and pessimism, but a song like “Execution,” as cynical as some of the lyrics get, is uplifting in its belief that humans can transcend their absolute worst qualities. It sounds like an angry yet beautiful prayer.

Buy it from Amazon.