I Am a Bird Now

I Am a Bird Now is the second studio album by Anohni's band Antony and the Johnsons, released on February 1, 2005, by Secretly Canadian. After it won the 2005 Mercury Prize, the record shot up the UK albums chart from #135 to #16 in one week, the biggest jump in the history of the prize.^[2] As of September 2011, UK sales stood at 220,000 copies.^[3]

I Am a Bird Now
Studio album by Antony and the Johnsons
Released	February 1, 2005 (2005-02-01)
Recorded	2004
Genre	Chamber pop[1]
Length	35:27
Label	Secretly Canadian
Producer	Anohni
Antony and the Johnsons chronology
The Lake (2004) I Am a Bird Now (2005) Hope There's Someone (2005)
Singles from I Am a Bird Now
"Hope There's Someone" Released: June 7, 2005 "You Are My Sister" Released: October 25, 2005

I Am a Bird Now features guest appearances by Rufus Wainwright, Devendra Banhart, Boy George and Lou Reed.^[4] The cover is a photograph by Peter Hujar of Warhol superstar Candy Darling on her deathbed.^[5]

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	88/100[6]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[8]
Drowned in Sound	10/10[9]
The Guardian	[10]
Los Angeles Times	[11]
Mojo	[12]
NME	7/10[13]
Pitchfork	8.6/10[14]
Rolling Stone	[15]
Spin	A−[16]

I Am a Bird Now received very positive reviews. On the review aggregate site Metacritic, the album has a score of 88 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim".^[6]

Drowned in Sound's Anthony Gibbons gave the album a score of 10/10, writing "It's not an exaggeration. This isn't hype. I Am A Bird Now is a beautiful, emotive, glorious, and sometimes sinister album that will top many a critic's list come the end-of-year polls, and justifiably so."^[9] Tiny Mix Tapes also gave the album a perfect score, writing "This music grabs a hold of you and doesn't let go. It feels timeless and gorgeous and bigger than life. It may not be 'soul' in the strict, music appreciation 101 sense, but it could make even the most jaded atheist approach a metaphysical regard... I'd put on my critic's cap and dive into scrutiny, but I am too enraptured by this artist's music."^[17] Pitchfork's Brandon Stosuy praised the vocals, writing "The ultimate draw is [Anohni's] voice, and within the first two seconds of the album, it should be very clear to even the most unaware newbies that [Anohni] has an amazing Nina Simone/Brian Ferry [sic]/Jimmy Scott vibrato, a multi-octave siren that would sound painfully lovely no matter what [she] was saying."^[14]

The album has appeared on several end of year lists. Mojo named I Am a Bird Now the best album of 2005.^[18] Pitchfork ranked the album #5 on its list of the top 50 albums of 2005.^[19] On the same website, the track "Hope There's Someone" was ranked #28 on their list of the Top 500 Songs of the 2000s and was selected as 2005's best single.^[20][21] In 2019, the album was ranked 40th on The Guardian's 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century list.^[22]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Anohni.

I Am a Bird Now track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Hope There's Someone"	4:21
2.	"My Lady Story"	3:33
3.	"For Today I Am a Boy"	2:36
4.	"Man Is the Baby"	4:09
5.	"You Are My Sister"	3:59
6.	"What Can I Do?"	1:40
7.	"Fistful of Love"	5:52
8.	"Spiralling"	4:25
9.	"Free at Last"	1:36
10.	"Bird Gerhl"	3:14

Personnel

The following people contributed to I Am a Bird Now:^[4][5]

Antony and the Johnsons

• Antony Hegarty – organ, piano, vocals
• Tahrah Cohen – drums
• Julia Kent – cello
• Parker Kindred – drums (track 7)
• Jeff Langston – bass
• Maxim Moston – violin
• Joan Wasser – viola
• Doug Wieselman – saxophone

Additional personnel

• Devendra Banhart – guitar (track 5), vocals (track 8)
• Steve Bernstein – horn
• John Bollinger – drums (track 5)
• Keith Bonner – flute
• Boy George – vocals (track 5)
• Danielle Farina – viola (tracks 2, 9)
• Jason Hart – piano (track 6)
• Rainy Orteca – bass (track 7)
• Lou Reed – guitar and vocals (track 7)
• Paul Shapiro – horn
• Rufus Wainwright – vocals (track 6)
• Julia Yasuda – Morse code, vocals (track 9)
• Emery Dobyns – engineer and mixer
• Doug Henderson - mixer and mastering

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for I Am a Bird Now Chart (2005–2006) Peak position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[23] 71 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[24] 16 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[25] 38 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[26] 58 French Albums (SNEP)[27] 45 Irish Albums (IRMA)[28] 17 Italian Albums (FIMI)[29] 60 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[30] 4 Scottish Albums (OCC)[31] 16 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[32] 22 UK Albums (OCC)[33] 16

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for I Am a Bird Now Chart (2006) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[34] 68 French Albums (SNEP)[35] 196

Singles

Chart performance for singles from I Am a Bird Now

Year	Song	Peak positions
		UK [36]
2005	"Hope There's Someone"	44
2005	"You Are My Sister"	39

Certifications and sales

Certifications and sales for I Am a Bird Now

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Norway (IFPI Norway)[37]	Gold	20,000*
Sweden (GLF)[38]	Gold	30,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[39]	Gold	100,000^
United States	—	73,000[40]
Summaries
Worldwide	—	350,000[41]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.