PREORDER AS WE ONCE WERE

If you just tuned in to my live interview with Steve Lamacq on BBC 6 Music then you will know that the cat is now out of the bag (or the first single at least…) and you can now preorder my new album, As We Once Were.

It will be released via Last Night From Glasgow this Summer and there’s lots of limited edition goodies on offer so don’t sleep on this. The first 100 copies of the double LP and first 100 CDs sold by LNFG will also be signed by me. There’s also lots of bundle discounts if you want multiple formats and even the option to include a rare test pressing: Preorder the album here.

We’ve also just announced a one-off special album launch show at London’s legendary 100 Club – the oldest independent venue in the world – on Saturday August 22nd with a parent-friendly early curfew of 10pm. Tickets are very limited and go on sale on Tuesday 14th April at 10am here.

BBC 6 MUSIC PREMIERE & NME FIRST INTERVIEW

Thanks to everyone who tuned in live tonight to BBC 6Music with Lamacq playing the first single from the album, ‘I Had A Baby Not A Lobotomy’ and chatting about all my exciting news! If you missed it, you can listen back to the show here.

If that wasn’t enough, you can also now watch the shiny new lyric video for the first single and read my first interview about the album exclusively with the NME here.

ALBUM FORMATS

SO… what will you be getting? 14 tracks and around 58 minutes of brand new music. Formats wise, the album will be released on 2LP vinyl (in two colour options: coral and linen) with a leopard print etching on side 4 which I’m very excited about. Apparently this is the closest you can get to actual leopard print vinyl. Yes I did ask.

The standard gatefold CD will come with a lovely 24 page lyric booklet, while for the completists, the ltd edition deluxe 2CD hardback media book edition will include a 48 page hardback book with exclusive artwork, unseen photos, extended liner notes, scans from my studio notebooks + 1 additional CD featuring original demos, alternative mixes, and writing demos. All for just £25.

A strictly limited edition cassette album will also be available to conceptually complete the beautiful back cover art, which has been lovingly created again by Simon Morse at Standard Designs in homage to the lost cassette tape of my grandmother’s voice that inspired much of the album. No spoilers on that just yet as it will give away some of the very special guests that appear on the record that I will be teasing you all with over the coming weeks…

As We Once Were is my third studio album and the long-awaited follow-up to the UK Top 40 album The Art Of Losing, which scooped up a rack of Album of The Year nods from The Sunday Times, to Prog, to the Mail on Sunday. With Sir Elton John naming it “one of my favourite records of the year” and Caitlin Moran calling it “the inadvertent, beautiful and truthful soundtrack to this moment”, it went on to sell over 10,000 physical copies via the power of word of mouth.

I created this new album at my very own Black Lodge Studios, while being given access to Pete Townshend’s collection of vintage analogue synthesisers to produce an epic 14-track widescreen exploration of the nature of time and transformation.
Against the backdrop of the birth of my daughter (after the multiple losses documented on The Art Of Losing) and the discovery of my grandmother’s voice on a long lost cassette tape in her mother’s attic, I found myself asking the question: “What can we build out of the past? Are we destined to be held down by it? Can we ever return to these past versions of ourselves?”

This is As We Once Were.

I really think it’s my best work to date. And you know what a perfectionist I am…

Preorder it now and be part of this new chapter.

PREORDER HERE

NEW ALBUM ANNOUNCED WITH NME

If you just tuned in to my live interview with Steve Lamacq on BBC 6 Music then you will know that the cat is now out of the bag (or the first single at least…) and you can now preorder my new album, As We Once Were from the fine folk at Last Night From Glasgow.

If that wasn’t enough, you can also now watch the shiny new lyric video for the first single and read my first interview about the album exclusively with the NME here: https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-anchoress-i-had-a-baby-not-a-lobotomy-interview-as-we-once-were-manics-tour-3940066

The Anchoress nominated for 2025 Music ProduCers Guild Awards

What a lovely surprise this morning to find out that I’ve been nominated for a Music Producers Guild - MPG Awards this year when I didn’t even know I had been long-listed! It’s an enormous honour to have that kind of feedback and respect from my peers for my production work.

Most people think of me as a “singer” but I’m actually happiest when I’m in the studio putting together records, either for myself or one of the amazing artists that I’ve had the privilege to produce for.

Thank you to everyone that had continued to support and encourage my work.

2025 Tour announced

I’m finally getting the chance to leave the studio and play you some of the songs from forthcoming album 3. I’ll be bringing my full band and I can’t wait to see you all on the road this Spring and Summer! On sale now!

APRIL 2025
Sun 20th LEEDS, Old Woollen
Wed 23rd MANCHESTER, The Deaf Institute
Thur 24th LIVERPOOL, Music Room at the Philharmonic Hall
Sat 26th LONDON, EartH (Hackney Arts Centre)

MAY 2025
Fri 9th May HEBDEN BRIDGE, The Trades Club
Sat 10th May GLAGSOW, CCA

JUNE 2025
Wed 11th ALDERSHOT, The West End Centre
Thur 12th MILTON KEYNES, The Craufurd Arms
Fri 13th CARDIFF, Tramshed Cardiff

Communion reissue

Big news! Communion is finally getting a proper vinyl and CD release next year. The first 100 copies will be signed so hurry yourself over to the Last Night From Glasgow store to secure your copy.

They say that good things come to those who wait… Sometimes you have to wait 11 years but I’m hoping it will be worth the protracted timeline.

When I first started conversations with the new label, one of the things I was really looking forward to was giving some of the early handmade releases a proper outing and getting them pressed on vinyl.

This is hopefully the first of a few resurrections of material I made as Catherine AD when I was first beginning my musical journey.

VERSIONS: ENCORE - ANNOUNCED TODAY

I’m very excited to announce the release of my new EP ‘Versions: Encore’ on limited edition 12” vinyl (500

Copies)

The EP brings together 6 of my recent reworkings of songs by Joy Division, The Smiths, Suede, & Blur and is available on Eco Mix vinyl for a special discounted price today.

Lots of you requested that these new offerings be collected together on vinyl. So, here they are. I’ve also included two additional bonus songs that didn’t make it onto the original Versions LP track listing, so all 6 of these are making their vinyl debut here:

https://iamtheanchoress.bandcamp.com/album/versions-encore

The Sunday Times ★★★★ ALBUM review of Versions

Guess who’s woken up to a fabulous ★★★★ album review in The Sunday Times?

“Teases out details and dark corners… raises them to another level.”

Huge thanks to Dan Cairns for such flattering words about the new album.

Read the review in full here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/best-new-albums-of-2023-so-far-6rrrvdnfk

‘Versions’ is out now on CD, vinyl and download.

BBC INTERVIEW WITH ADAM WALTON

I'm very honoured that last night I had the pleasure of speaking with BBC Radio Wales' Adam Walton for an in-depth 40 minute interview (yes you read that right!) to celebrate the release of the new album next week.

It's not often that you get the privilege of being granted so much air time by the BBC and an interviewer who is also so insightful and thoughtful that you discover new things about your own work across the way.

A huge thank you to Adam and to the BBC for being so generous with their time to support the release of Versions. I think it's probably one of my favourite radio interviews I've ever done!

If you have some time today to listen to the interview in full I'd highly recommend heading over here while you potter on a Sunday.

Listen back from 1h15 into the programme here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001qzch

MOJO ★★★★ Album Review for VERSIONS

There’s a lovely ★★★★ review for ‘Versions’ in this month’s issue of MOJO magazine.

I’m always incredibly grateful for the journalists that take the time to really listen and absorb what it is you’ve spent such a long time trying to make and do. Have always been and will always be a huge fan of writing about music as much as I am of listening to it and creating it. It’s sad to see that so much of the music press has been decimated by the changing times and I’m still such a huge advocate of subscribing to print magazines and really savouring reading them cover to cover every month. Make sure you pick up a copy to read the verdict in full.

The album is out October 6th and there’s VERY limited stocks of the vinyl remaining. Preorder from Bandcamp or from your independent record stores Rough Trade and Burning Shed.

VERSIONS - NEW ALBUM

I’m very excited to announce the release of my new album ‘Versions’ on October 6th 2023 via the recently revived Drowned In Sound label. The album brings together 10 of my favourite re-imaginings of songs by the likes of Depeche Mode, The Cure, Nirvana, Nico and Halsey.

The album will be available on both limited edition Eco Mix vinyl (strictly limited to 1000 copies only) and signed gatefold CD with 12 page full colour booklet and exclusive additional CD bonus track - a previously unheard acoustic guitar version of ‘Friday I’m In Love’ featuring the instrumental talents of Charlie Cawood.

Preorders are open now exclusively on Bandcamp (it’s also Bandcamp Friday, so they don’t take a cut today).

We expect these to fly out the door (the previous EPs sold out in less than 24 hours) so be quick if you want to secure your copy:

iamtheanchoress.bandcamp.com/album/versions

There’s a special discount if you want to purchase both physical formats together as a bundle, which will mean you get the signed CD with exclusive bonus track as well as the full liner notes. I wanted to do something a bit different for this release and the choice to press on Eco-Mix vinyl was partly conceptual, partly ethical. Each record pressed will be a completely unique combination, reworked from leftover wax pellets which feels very apt for the concept of the album, as well as being a more eco-friendly method of production and a lovely collectors item for those that really value physical objects.

I love the idea that, like the collection of songs being pieces of other people’s imaginations, this record is quite literally made up of unused parts of other records.

LTD EDITION LP + SIGNED CD SPECIAL BUNDLE

I’ve been working hard on this over these past six months, re-recording and mixing 10 of my favourites. I hope you like what I’ve chosen - it was an almost impossible task to choose which ones to whittle it down to so that we could press this onto a single vinyl.

The extended wait for the physical album has also been due, in part, to the loooooong manufacturing times for vinyl these days ( - thanks Taylor…) as the format sees an ever growing resurgence in popularity.

The artwork has been beautifully put together again by my long-term design collaborator Scott Robinson who also worked on the design and layout of my first two albums. You can expect a really stunning visual package that we have closely collaborated together on.

SIGNED GATEFOLD CD (+ BONUS TRACK) AND 12 PAGE LINER NOTES BOOKLET

Versions CD Tracklisting:

1 Enjoy The Silence (Depeche Mode)
2 Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order)
3 Climbing Up The Walls (Radiohead)
4 Friday I’m In Love (The Cure)
5 Pennyroyal Tea (Nirvana)
6 These Days (Nico)
7 Martha’s Harbour (All About Eve)
8 The Tradition (Halsey)
9 This Is Yesterday (Manic Street Preachers)
10 Sweetness Follows (R.E.M.)
11. Bonus Track (CD ONLY) Friday I’m In Love (Acoustic Version)

Preorder your copy now for delivery by 6th October 2023

Thanks as ever for your support, and let’s make this Bandcamp Friday a really special one!

Catherine x

THE ANCHORESS GUESTS WITH MANIC STREET PREACHERS AT GLASTONBURY

This weekend was such a dream, performing with my childhood heroes Manic Street Preachers at Glastonbury Festival in the blistering heat.

To mark the occasion, my reworking of ‘This is Yesterday’ will be released at midnight tonight across all streaming platforms.

Presave it now for a chance to win a pair of tickets to my upcoming autumn tour: https://lnk.fuga.com/ThisIsYest

Thank you for all of your kind words about the set. The internet can sometimes be an unkind place but I am truly overwhelmed at the positive reaction to tackling such a sacred cow, especially from a fanbase that is hugely protective of their history. I’m honoured that the band entrusted me with this precious song that means so much to so many people (me included).

You can watch me performing both ‘Your Love Alone’ and ‘This Is Yesterday’ on the BBC iPlayer to see the band in their full glory!

The full set from the Isle of Wight festival was also broadcast on Absolute Radio, including me also duetting on ‘Little Baby Nothing’.

Catherine x

THE ANCHORESS NOMINATED AT 2023 MPG AWARDS

Thrilled to be shortlisted for this year’s Music Producers Guild - MPG awards in this category alongside such talented folk as Hannah Peel and Blood Orange (Devonte Hynes).

It’s such an honour to be recognised for my production skills, having pushed against the tide for so long. I love making records and getting creative in the studio, both for The Anchoress and in collaboration with others.

If you’d like to chat about me producing on your project or would like to work with me on a remix, drop me a line to discuss.

ROCKAWAY BEACH 4* LIVE REVIEW

First show back at Rockaway Beach and what a way to make a re-entry as the lead review in today’s Mail on Sunday!

“𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑬𝒖𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒎𝒊𝒄𝒔 - 𝒂 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓-𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒆 𝑳𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒙”

What a start to the year! Tickets for the the tour in May are on sale now! And so very pleased that it’s being talked about why I couldn’t play for so long and the importance that mitigations such as using air filters that have made it possible to start doing my job again. Massive thanks to everyone who’s been so patient x

Read the review in full here: https://www.mailplus.co.uk/edition/showbiz/music/250153/music-after-covid-hiatus-its-anchoress-away

THE BEST GIGS TO SEE IN 2023: MAIL ON SUNDAY

Huge thanks to the Mail on Sunday for including the forthcoming Anchoress tour alongside Self Esteem, Coldplay, and Elton John in their tours to look forward to in 2023. Rubbing shoulders with rock royalty here!

Read the artcle in full here: https://www.mailplus.co.uk/edition/showbiz/music/246925/music-from-the-arctic-monkeys-to-coldplay-the-best-gigs-to-see-in-2023

THE ANCHORESS NOMINATED AT MUSIC PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS

It is such an honour to be nominated for Self Producing Artist Of The Year at this year’s Music Producers Guild - MPG Awards. It means a huge deal to me to be recognised in this category.

Since getting my first multitrack as a teenager, through to getting to watch the greats such as Dave Eringa at work in more recent years, I feel so honoured to be recognised for my production work for a record that takes in everything from uber traditional studio techniques, to recording in a cupboard, to remote drum recording with Sterling Campbell (before the world had even heard of Covid!). I’ll be forever proud of what I was able to achieve on The Art Of Losing as a summation of everything I have learnt so far in my career.