‘Sliver of Ice’: the Anohni song written for Lou Reed
For the past two decades, Anohni has been crafting some of the most beautiful and underrated songs in the alternative and experimental pop realm. Born in 1971, Anohni spent her early years obsessing over music, gravitating towards performance in the 1990s when she founded the Blacklips collective with Johanna Constantine.
However, as a teenager, Anohni immersed herself in unconventional female artists and new wave bands, telling The Telegraph, “I was listening to OMD, Kate Bush, Culture Club, Alison Moyet and especially Marc and the Mambas, which was this incredibly dark and emotional side project for Marc Almond.”
Through the 1990s, Anohni worked alongside her band, The Johnsons, releasing their debut record in 2000. Noted for her incredible songwriting skills and emotive voice, Anohni quickly became a vital part of the New York scene – a city she’d moved to in the previous decade. In 2005, the band released I Am A Bird Now, featuring the iconic image of ‘Candy Darling on her Deathbed’ by Peter Hujar on the cover.
The record featured many collaborations with other acclaimed musicians, such as Rufus Wainwright, Joan Wasser, Boy George and, most notably, The Velvet Underground’s unforgettable frontman, Lou Reed. I Am A Bird Now received widespread critical acclaim, earning the Mercury Prize.
Much to Anohni’s delight, she became a close friend of Reed, one of her musical icons. Sadly, Reed died in 2013 from liver disease after a series of health issues. Thus, on Anohni’s 2023 album My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross, she decided to pay tribute to her beloved friend with the song ‘Silver of Ice’.
In the song, she sings lines such as “And the taste of water on my tongue/ On my way towards oblivion,” which recalls a memory of Reed not long before he passed away. In conversation with Björk for Interview Magazine, Anohni discussed the meaning behind the track.
After the Icelandic singer asked Anohni whether ‘Silver of Ice’ is about whiskey, adding, “The lyrics seem to celebrate the celestial angle of intoxication,” she replied, “Oh, god. That’s a very different interpretation”.
Yet Anohni elucidated: “I mean, it definitely could be. You mean, ‘Now that I’m almost gone,’ like shitfaced? I was definitely having a little tipple in those evenings.”
She explained: “That song mostly came from stuff that Lou Reed said to me before he died, actually. His carer put a piece of ice on his tongue, and he called me up having these ecstatic physical experiences. He was just getting more and more grateful for the feeling of being alive, and it was inspiring. So I wrote it with him in mind.”
This tender memory drives the beautiful song forward, which is defined by minimal, melancholic instrumentation. Listen below.
