On the Friday before the release for their latest LP – Swanlights – Antony and the Johnsons brought the pain to the Ed Sullivan Theater for a taping of The Late Show with David Letterman. Backed by his band, which included a four-piece horn section, Antony Hegarty sat behind his black grand piano and hurtfully delivered lyrics like “Thank you for everything/I am the enemy/the enemy of the Earth/I don’t know how to stop/how to stop giving birth/I keep taking/more than I’ve got to give.”

While this particular performance of “Thank You For Your Love” wasn’t Hegarty at his most powerful, his voice still rang through crystal clear and it gave late night audiences a peek at how captivating the 40-year-old founder of New York City performance collective, Blacklips, can be without all the bells and whistles of other, flashier piano playing divas.

Letterman always seems to be impressed with artists who bring their album on vinyl and even told the audience to ask for “the one with the good amp” when they picked up Swanlights (one of our 35 more albums to buy in 2010) at the store on October 12th. Check out the video in all of it’s glory below.