- Saturday 5 July
No one walks away unaffected by the meeting with Anohni's voice. The British musician is one of the most expressive vocalists of our time, with songs that embrace quiet tenderness, blue melancholy and raw pain. And rarely has she sounded more relevant than on her latest album, My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross, from 2023.
The album, which garnered superlative critical acclaim and was named best album of the year by The New Yorker, reunited Anohni with her old band the Johnsons, with whom she has since toured. "A sublime soul reinvention," NME wrote of the album, in which Anohni & The Johnsons combine elements of soul, jazz, folk ballads and experimental rock into a deeply moving whole.
The album is a shining example of Anohni's ability to merge the personal, the political and the spiritual in songs that pay tribute to queer activists like Marsha P. Johnson (after whom The Johnsons are also named) and grapple with the current climate crisis.
The songs channel both the soulful fervor and political strength of vocalists like Marvin Gaye and Nine Simone in richly faceted arrangements that the great band and masterful vocalist fully unleash on stage. A beautiful experience awaits at Roskilde Festival when Anohni & the Johnsons perform songs from My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross and delve into Anohni's entire formidable back catalog.
