“With nowhere to go but out of body” said Lenny Kaye in his poignant and loving obituary of Joey Ramone in the April 17, 2001 issue of The Village Voice.
The phrase has stayed with me ever since I read it that morning, and I’ve applied it to many experiences of beholding art, most often in reference to rock. For it is rock that I have relied upon above any other art form to gain access to transcendence and a feeling of oneness with the universe. Usually it comes from live performance, less so but still often enough from recordings.
Although I have yet to experience ANOHNI in a live setting, her voice never fails to take me out of body and remind me that I am part of a vast interconnected network of minds and beings. Her voice never fails to claim a space in my heart and make me feel emotions I never knew I had. ANOHNI can trick me into remembering fragments of a past I’ve never lived, or perhaps have yet to live.
One of her most recent works is a cover version of Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue.” This is a tune that has been executed to perfection by Dylan himself as well as by heavyweights Van Morrison and Marianne Faithfull.
But… ANOHNI seduces me into believing it is something I have never heard before.
ANOHNI renders it into a song I have yet to hear or a song I will receive in a future lifetime, in my next incarnation when I will recognize it immediately as something holy, something that will bring myself and others much benefit and remind me that it is only love, compassion, and kindness that will save us—that will allow our species to continue. Only love, compassion, and kindness.