The Anchoress – As We Once Were
As We Once Were is the highly anticipated, all-original third studio album from Welsh singer-musician-producer The Anchoress (aka Catherine Anne Davies).
It also directly relates to, and takes inspiration from, the birth of her first child and the discovery of her grandmother’s voice on a long forgotten cassette tape.
The results are a thematic work that considers the past and its place in our present, maternal lineage, deep seated darker memories, and trauma.
Additionally, and pivotal to the album’s tonal soundscapes, Davies was given access to Pete Townshend’s collection of vintage analogue synthesisers. The results, coupled with contributions from a number of guest performers, is an avant-garde pop meets art-rock masterclass.
Following piano & ‘music box’ introduction 'Du Temps Perdu,' which features the voices of Catherine Anne Davies’ mother, grandmother and young daughter, the album kicks in to the rock art-mospheres of 'Throw Over Your Man,' a song lyrically inspired by love letters shared between literary giants Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville West.
That there’s a touch of the ‘Manics about it (never a bad thing) is underlined by the guitars of guest musician James Dean Bradfield, who also adds some duet vocals for good measure.
'I Had A Baby Not A Lobotomy' (featuring additional vocals from Welsh-Cornish musician Gwenno) first made an impact as the album’s lead-off single.
A rhythmic, dark-pop number (with Pete Townshend’s ARP 2500 quick-pulsing over the chorus), the lyric is sharp retort to those that stereotypically believe, or decide, motherhood is all about diapers and domesticity ("I guess you’ll be retiring now - and do you think that you’ll mellow out?")
'Damsels is a rebuttal of the "damsels in distress" concept. The moody, synth-embellished number (with a great bass line from Charlie Cawood and additional vocals from Indie vibed singer Eaves Wilder) cleverly and purposely name checks many of the great female writers, philosophers, playwrights and feminists across history. As such it becomes an important thematic statement of the album.
It also directly relates to, and takes inspiration from, the birth of her first child and the discovery of her grandmother’s voice on a long forgotten cassette tape.
The results are a thematic work that considers the past and its place in our present, maternal lineage, deep seated darker memories, and trauma.
Additionally, and pivotal to the album’s tonal soundscapes, Davies was given access to Pete Townshend’s collection of vintage analogue synthesisers. The results, coupled with contributions from a number of guest performers, is an avant-garde pop meets art-rock masterclass.
Following piano & ‘music box’ introduction 'Du Temps Perdu,' which features the voices of Catherine Anne Davies’ mother, grandmother and young daughter, the album kicks in to the rock art-mospheres of 'Throw Over Your Man,' a song lyrically inspired by love letters shared between literary giants Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville West.
That there’s a touch of the ‘Manics about it (never a bad thing) is underlined by the guitars of guest musician James Dean Bradfield, who also adds some duet vocals for good measure.
'I Had A Baby Not A Lobotomy' (featuring additional vocals from Welsh-Cornish musician Gwenno) first made an impact as the album’s lead-off single.
A rhythmic, dark-pop number (with Pete Townshend’s ARP 2500 quick-pulsing over the chorus), the lyric is sharp retort to those that stereotypically believe, or decide, motherhood is all about diapers and domesticity ("I guess you’ll be retiring now - and do you think that you’ll mellow out?")
'Damsels is a rebuttal of the "damsels in distress" concept. The moody, synth-embellished number (with a great bass line from Charlie Cawood and additional vocals from Indie vibed singer Eaves Wilder) cleverly and purposely name checks many of the great female writers, philosophers, playwrights and feminists across history. As such it becomes an important thematic statement of the album.
The title track, with its dreamy, 80s synth-pop sheen, carries a lyric that highlights how the past (where trauma and troubled relationships play a significant part) continues to be emotionally tied to the present.
The piano led 'Happiness Don’t Show Up Like It Should' is a short prologue to what is, in effect, Side Two of the album (no matter the listening format).
'All I Really Want Is Peace' is a focal point of the album.
A dreamy and captivating ballad with a lovely arrangement and interesting instrumentation (including melodica), the lyric is a deeply personal recounting of something extremely unsettling that happened in the past, with the song acting, one hopes, as a catharsis.
(Kudos here to the mix from Dave Eringa, who mixed all but one of the 14 tracks).
'Stop The World,' written about a time when (in Catherine Anne Davies’ own liner note words) "the worst thing that you can not even imagine was actually happening to my family," must have been, one surmises, the hardest to write, sing, and record.
From this personal "living hell" however comes yet another striking ballad; the darker tone and unsettling strings are tempered by the voice of Davies’ daughter and a beautifully controlled vocal that, as mentioned above, could not have been easy ("And if I sit down I might not get up again; so stop the world cos I want to get off of it").
A reprise of 'Du Temps Perdu' (the click of a cassette deck key is a particularly nice touch) leads to the waltz-like 'What You Did,' which revisits the relationship trauma of the title track.
The segue to the second half of the song, and the outro section, take on an eerier form, courtesy of Dominic Chad’s guitar stylings and a host of those well utilised Townshend synths.
'All Fall Down,' which opens with the reminiscences of Catherine Anne Davies’ grandmother and featuring vocals from Hannah Peel, is another where synths are utilised to their best effect.
Here they create the textural layers of a number that, again, lyrically reflects on past experiences never being far away.
'Hand To The Tide,' like 'All I Want is Peace,' is a catharsis of sorts for another very dark and tragic time (three family members, including a young child, lost their lives in a freak tidal accident).
The mix from Mikko Gordon brings out the subtleties of the sonics employed on this number, which conjure moments of Kate Bush at her creative best (you can’t help but think of her Ninth Wave suite here).
'She Knows Her Place' is the "what if?" companion piece to 'I Had A Baby Not A Lobotomy.'
Synth layers sharing space with Japanese instrument, the Taisho Goto (played by Charlie Cawood) give this number a very distinct sound, but one that’s still very much part of the album’s sonic sculpture, and underlying theme.
As the introduction piece opened with the voice of Catherine Anne Davies’ mother, the epilogue signs off, rather fittingly, with the voice of Davies’ daughter; a generational hand-me-down where musical ingenuity and maternal instincts meet.
Confessions Of A Romance Novelist made quite the art-pop debut impact; The Art Of Losing was, deservedly, cited as an album of the year choice by many a critic and music media outlet.
But As We Once Were is the finest work to date from The Anchoress; true creative artistry in action.
Take a bow, not a lobotomy, Miss Davies.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Purchase As We Once Were on multiple formats here.
The Anchoress Bandcamp Page: https://iamtheanchoress.bandcamp.com/
The piano led 'Happiness Don’t Show Up Like It Should' is a short prologue to what is, in effect, Side Two of the album (no matter the listening format).
'All I Really Want Is Peace' is a focal point of the album.
A dreamy and captivating ballad with a lovely arrangement and interesting instrumentation (including melodica), the lyric is a deeply personal recounting of something extremely unsettling that happened in the past, with the song acting, one hopes, as a catharsis.
(Kudos here to the mix from Dave Eringa, who mixed all but one of the 14 tracks).
'Stop The World,' written about a time when (in Catherine Anne Davies’ own liner note words) "the worst thing that you can not even imagine was actually happening to my family," must have been, one surmises, the hardest to write, sing, and record.
From this personal "living hell" however comes yet another striking ballad; the darker tone and unsettling strings are tempered by the voice of Davies’ daughter and a beautifully controlled vocal that, as mentioned above, could not have been easy ("And if I sit down I might not get up again; so stop the world cos I want to get off of it").
A reprise of 'Du Temps Perdu' (the click of a cassette deck key is a particularly nice touch) leads to the waltz-like 'What You Did,' which revisits the relationship trauma of the title track.
The segue to the second half of the song, and the outro section, take on an eerier form, courtesy of Dominic Chad’s guitar stylings and a host of those well utilised Townshend synths.
'All Fall Down,' which opens with the reminiscences of Catherine Anne Davies’ grandmother and featuring vocals from Hannah Peel, is another where synths are utilised to their best effect.
Here they create the textural layers of a number that, again, lyrically reflects on past experiences never being far away.
'Hand To The Tide,' like 'All I Want is Peace,' is a catharsis of sorts for another very dark and tragic time (three family members, including a young child, lost their lives in a freak tidal accident).
The mix from Mikko Gordon brings out the subtleties of the sonics employed on this number, which conjure moments of Kate Bush at her creative best (you can’t help but think of her Ninth Wave suite here).
'She Knows Her Place' is the "what if?" companion piece to 'I Had A Baby Not A Lobotomy.'
Synth layers sharing space with Japanese instrument, the Taisho Goto (played by Charlie Cawood) give this number a very distinct sound, but one that’s still very much part of the album’s sonic sculpture, and underlying theme.
As the introduction piece opened with the voice of Catherine Anne Davies’ mother, the epilogue signs off, rather fittingly, with the voice of Davies’ daughter; a generational hand-me-down where musical ingenuity and maternal instincts meet.
Confessions Of A Romance Novelist made quite the art-pop debut impact; The Art Of Losing was, deservedly, cited as an album of the year choice by many a critic and music media outlet.
But As We Once Were is the finest work to date from The Anchoress; true creative artistry in action.
Take a bow, not a lobotomy, Miss Davies.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Purchase As We Once Were on multiple formats here.
The Anchoress Bandcamp Page: https://iamtheanchoress.bandcamp.com/