ANOHNI and the Johnsons brought the same passionate intellect from their soul-searching live shows to the Tiny Desk, delivering an emotionally potent and psychologically fissile set that underscores ANOHNI’s nearly 30-year career of immaculately built music. ANOHNI’s songs intentionally ask tough questions, such as the lament for the environment “Why Am I Alive Now,” which builds its heavenly groove with propulsive drumming and a plaintive clarinet before ending with the resonant line, “All our memories are sinking into un-living.” Yet, tracks like the subsequent “Hopelessness” manage to feel cathartic despite the difficult subject matter, thanks to its diaphanous arrangement that forces listeners to look inward with the question, “How did I become a virus?” The performance concluded with the soul-flavored “It Must Change,” building to a purifying, intoxicating shuffle that provides a necessary truth-to-power oratory, affirming ANOHNI as a provocative and much-needed artist who challenges us to confront our feelings and find a way to own them.
SET LIST
- “Why Am I Alive Now?”
- “Hopelessness”
- “It Must Change”