Timothy Gabriele: This is the best of two collaborations between Antony and Hudson Mohawke dropped this week. The other, which also features Oneohtrix Point Never under the name ANOHNI, is also a stunner. An aching vocal, a moving melody, and a gorgeous music video, perhaps what most stands out is that overblown snare hit, fuzzing into the red as if to overwhelm the track even further. I’ve always found HudMo a bit overhyped, but this may just have me giving Lantern a listen after all. Rewind/Replay. [8/10]
John Garratt: Hudson Mohawke’s music has been praised for being “genre-smashing.” I’ll give credit where credit is due — “Indian Steps” is the first time I’ve heard a boring, monotonous melody, sung in mumbled disaffection, set to plodding, predictable music while watching golden strings pointlessly spin themselves around a pair of naked old people. Does that count as genre-smashing? [3/10]
Dustin Ragucos: “Indian Steps” is a living, breathing entity, one that can have the percussive heartbeat of drums one second and the earthshaking quality of a thunderbolt with another. Antony provides the sound of a shaman channelling her ritual. And while some of her melodic steps teeter-totter near an unbearable edge, her contribution to Hudson Mohawke’s piece is still brilliant. [7/10]
Ryan Dieringer: Hudson Mohawke has that touch. If it’s in the mix, you’re gonna feel it. There’s none of that extra, plan-B production. Much like the tracks Mohawke’s name was attached to on Yeezus, this instrumental — built on industrial drums and Anthony’s sampled vocals — is sparing if not exactly sparse. Which works well to tee up as monolithic a singer as Anthony. She captures our attention brilliantly on every heartbreaking line of this song. [9/10]
Steve Horowitz: Nothing really happens here, and that’s the point of the music. Waiting, sleeping, looking at the sky, it’s all the same release. The percussion arouses us, and the amazing Antony Hegarty makes a vocal appearance, but really this is as much a downer as getting older. The video romanticizes age as just a number. However, it is more than sagging skin. It is pain and loss of flexibility. While the images compliment the music in its idealization of love and life, neither offers much pleasure. [5/10]
SCORE: 6.4