Singer-songwriter/pianist Antony is one of those rare artists who, while not unprecedented, still emerges as singular. His is an an arresting vibrato and his presence is gender-anxious and confrontational in its vulnerability. His fey yet firm poise is quivering, tension fraught, but never engulfingly overwrought. Menored by Lou Reed, Boy George, Rufus Wainright and Devendra Barnhart, Antony presents a unique spectoral sound of faded, frayed glamour. This his second album I am a Bird Now is a polished gilded productions including a bluesy purr worthy of Nina Simone in "My Lady Story" and "Fistful of Love," with its Muscle Shoals horn blurts-meet-Weimar cabaret swoons via The Velvet Underground"s shuffle. As a whole, I Am a Bird Now exhibits a downy affinity for androgynous eccentricity. Rough Trade. 2005.