Anjimile - The King (2023)

On his second album, Boston folk singer-songwriter Anjimile relies almost entirely on acoustic guitar and his voice, sometimes manipulated and layered atop itself. The effect is mesmerizing on tracks like "The King," which sounds like a medieval choir bleeding emotion; then a seismic percussive rhythm—some unrelenting earthquake—rolls in. "What don't kill you/ Almost killed you/ What don't fill you/ Pains you, drains you/ The plague of our year/ The Black Death is here," he sings. It's heavy drama, and just one of Anjimile's observations on being a Black trans person in America. Evolving from his wonderful debut, Giver Taker, The King is stunning and unafraid. "Animal" is directly influenced by the brutal death of George Floyd at the hands—the knees—of police: "If you treat me like an animal/ I'll be an animal … Is this growing old?/ Every day another grief to hold/ And I heard blue lives matter/ From a white liberal/ Piece of shit I couldn't stand at all." "Black Hole," which features a thunder-clap performance by Big Thief drummer James Krivchenia, is big, full, listen-to-me loud, with Anjimile singing ("I believe no man on earth could fill me"; "Every note inside my throat is MIA") over a buzzing that refuses to let you turn away. The same is true as he exposes incredibly intimate moments on "Father," which captures the maddening heartbreak and desperation of watching a loved one grapple with addiction. "I wrote this song with my parents in mind as a sort of gesture of appreciation and love for everything they did to try and support me before, during, and after I went to rehab and got sober in early 2016," Anjimile has said. It's a gentle ballad with the texture of a hymn, even as the words stab. "Are you still drinking?/ What were you thinking?/ On my heart, weighing/ I am still praying," he lulls over delicate strumming. "Mother," meanwhile, is haunted and haunting, as Anjimile, who came out as trans a few years ago, wonders, "But am I your son/ Could I be one?" "Anybody," the closest to a traditional folk song, finds him declaring, among voices like shifting shadows, "If you don't find your wound/ Your wound will find you." Guitarist Brad Allen Williams guests on "Harley," which floats like a feather, and Sam Gendel lends spritely, even unapologetically rude sax on "Genesis." On second-to-last track "I Pray," Anjimile's anger and confusion flashes as divinity-seeking desperation: "I don't want to hurt, no/ I don't want to feel this way." Brutally beautiful.

TRACKLIST

1. The King (3:45)
2. Mother (3:02)
3. Anybody (2:27)
4. Genesis (2:59)
5. Animal (2:31)
6. Father (2:41)
7. Harley (3:39)
8. Black Hole (3:43)
9. I Pray (4:30)
10. The Right (4:02)