
Photograph by Sukey Parnell
Antigone may follow a glittery line of one-name discopop divas, but she brandishes a more poetic wit than most. Working with
Darren Hayes collaborator
(Justin) Shave, she laces her debut album with "did she just say that?" imagery and a wide sonic palette, from eurodisco to cabaret to ambient chill tunes.
Promiscuity, the opening track, sets the tone for an ambitious album about men, women, love, sex and self-reliance. Its porn bass and mod, squiggly synths are supporting players to the song's centerpiece, Antigone's powerful voice, which - literally and figuratively - dominates the album. The final lines of Promiscuity conjure fearless sexuality,
"As she wanders quietly away... Behind her trails a fishing line / That joins our loins to our hearts."Fans of discopop will find much to love. The ecstatic
Mirror manages to evoke
Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and, strangely,
Red Hot Chili Peppers in three minutes. In an alternative universe, a psychic correction has been made and the blazing
More Man Than Man sits atop the charts. With its repeated hook
"I don't believe you understand / A woman can be more man than man," this is the kind of diva-gets-hers anthem that works lip-syncing drag queens into a hot mess.
During the manifesto
To Be Real, Antigone wanders under a horn-laden jazz shower.
Antigoneland is filled with this kind of detail, the artist having toiled over the songs for a luxurious length of time. Halfway through the otherwise midtempo
Into Your Head, she summons the spirit of rock priestesses like
Patti Smith, screaming
"My love is like a little vulture!" in a shocking punk detour.
Antigone has likened the album to the arc of an evening out, ending in the wee hours of dawn. The latter tracks, like the spoken-word
Palomino, recall the moody, erotic genuis of
Vanessa Daou, whose 90's album
Zipless is an ambient electropop classic. The lush nighttime ballad
Life Without You is so swoonily pretty it will have
Alison Goldfrapp crying into her tea.
Whether popular success welcomes her or not,
Anigone Foster exists in the realm of intelligent pop artists like
Roisin Murphy and
Siobhan Donaghy. The album's final moment, in
Waking Up Slowly, says it all. After a swell of strings, the orchestration drops and she sings,
"I'm not a afraid of growing old / I'm not afraid of desire." If
Antigoneland were human - and it may be, in its creator's mind - it would be a fierce woman, marching home through the city canyons, smiling at a memory she keeps only for herself.
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Antigone recently moved back to her native Australia after years in London. She's currently prepping for a big album push there. The picture above is a first image from her "next wave." The album is out now on itunes worldwide(ish).