THE ANCHORESS
As We Once Were (Last Night From Glasgow)
As We Once Were is the third album proper from multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer The Anchoress, aka Catherine Anne Davies. Its predecessor from 2021, The Art Of Losing – an attempt to reckon with sorrow in modern times – was met with universal acclaim, and comparisons to Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love. Here, we find Davies reflecting on motherhood and legacy across four generations of women.
A massive Manic Street Preachers devotee, and previous guest vocalist on their Resistance Is Futile album, Davies now returns the favour and collaborates with James Dean Bradfield on the Virginia Woolf-fuelled Throw Over Your Man. (Longstanding Manics engineer Dave Eringa is at the mixing desk here, too.) She even gets to tinker with Pete Townsend’s collection of vintage synths – and the end result sounds rich and stunning, both vocal- and production-wise, with no aural corners cut. All Fall Down, featuring contemporary composer Hannah Peel, is the tip of the AWOW iceberg: a collection of songs equally emotionally potent as The Art Of Losing.
words DAVID NOBAKHT
