Anna Calvi – Hunter review

One of life’s hardest lessons is that happiness is meant to come from conformity; apart from a brief period at the end of the 1960’s induced to some extent by mind-expanding drugs, social engineering devised by the few has had control over the many since the Industrial Revolution.

Londoner Anna Calvi is at the forefront of no movement other than on her own, but on  Hunter she has created a world where the norms of sexuality, gender and identity are free to be unlearned, a place where the boundaries are set only by the self.

To achieve this vision of sexutopia she realised astutely that being bold was key; on the album’s title track she assumes the mantle of predator, whilst on As A Man her richly operatic voice soars, confident and cocksure, the growl of an actor walking in real life.

Hunter isn’t though something as clumsy as just flipping a camera view round, as if carnality is the means and the method to being free. But its exploration is a fascinating one and despite the moral minority’s attempts to silence debate, the message is as compelling as her music.

You can read a full review here.