English-born art-pop musician ANOHNI has recently announced a unique promotional method for releasing the final song from her forthcoming EP, PARADISE. Through a Facebook post on March 14, ANOHNI wrote, “If you would like the final song from PARADISE, email me at anohni@rebismusic.com and share with me in a sentence or two what you care most about, or your hopes for the future Send this to me instead of the dollar you used to send me in the olden days.”
They further explain, “The price for this song is a gesture of anonymous vulnerability… Please don’t write about how my music affects you; if you mention me or my work I will not send the track.”
PARADISE is out March 17 via Secretly Canadian/Rough Trade. On the EP, ANOHNI is working with previous collaborators Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke. The title track was released earlier this year in January, and offers a poetic, women-centered decry that touches on current politics and ecofeminism. Judging by the EP’s cover art, the entire EP will pay homage to women worldwide, as it features a collage of women’s faces that have appeared in ANOHNI’s live visual shows and recent music videos.
Lyrics from the title track include, “For millennia, Men have enslaved women and attempted to appropriate female creative power, re-casting themselves as gods and creators. This assault continues today in the forms of ruthless wealth and mineral extraction, genetic engineering, mass surveillance and war mongering.”
ANOHNI began their musical career performing with Antony and the Johnsons, with which they won the Mercury Music Prize in 2005. In 2016, ANOHNI became the second openly-transgender person nominated for an Academy Ward, for their song “Manta Ray,” which was featured in the film Racing Extinction. Their debut solo album was released last May, and received nominations for a Mercury Music Prize as well as a Brit Award. ANOHNI will be playing a few shows this year in Europe, and one will be accompanied by the Arrhus Symphony Orchestra
The PARADISE EP comes only shortly after their debut solo album, HOPELESSNESS, from 2016.