Photography by Nick Haymes

Antony Hegarty was just 18 when it happened. It was his freshman year at NYU and Hegarty was stepping off a stage much smaller than those he sashays across today. Just minutes after the show had wrapped up, a woman from the audience took the young vocalist aside to thank him. That pebbled vibrato of his was most likely in its infant stages then, but the effect could be considered somewhat universal. She had wept. He had found his voice.
     “There are lots of reasons to sing,” says Hegarty via telephone from his Manhattan apartment. “It’s like jumping into an ocean of human archetypes, expressive archetypes. All different animals have their own way of expressing themselves. You can jump in and it’s not just about you anymore, it’s about the whole experience of being human.” At the moment, Hegarty is taking a short break from touching up his forthcoming long-player, The Crying Light, and the pace he’s kept alongside his band, the Johnsons, until now seems to have left his speaking voice in pieces.

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