The Anchoress - Translating pain

Catherine Ann Davies, under her moniker The Anchoress, has released one of the most anticipated albums of this early stretch of 2021. “The Art Of Losing” is an object of twisted beauty with an emotional core; it's magic realism, a concept album with very powerful ideas, aimed at unpacking complex, personal matters such as the death of her father, miscarriages, and cancer, all of it tackled with a high degree of optimism and inner strength. In this interview, the Welsh singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist traces the stages that shaped the record's creative process, from her thoughts on releasing it in the middle of a pandemic, to the method she used to channel her often painful starting points into music, to the intriguing podcasts she released on the subject, to the many collaborations that have always set her apart, right down to the meticulous care she has always shown in writing the instrumental scores.

What are your thoughts and reflections on releasing an album (“The Art Of Losing” was ready to come out as early as March 2020) in the time of Covid-19: is there ever really a “right” moment to release an album in this situation?

It's strange: the album was finished in 2019, and I was very worried about how it would be received, since some of the themes were so dark and uncomfortable. I couldn't have predicted that by the time it was released (it was delayed by a year), we'd all be forced to confront our own mortality, living in the middle of a global pandemic. So in a way, it was the “right” moment to release a record that moves through dissecting death and pain. It seems to have had a strong impact on listeners, in a way I never expected while I was writing it. It's all been very fortuitous.

What is the moment on “The Art Of Losing” you're proudest of?

Having written and produced the album entirely by myself is probably what I'm proudest of about the record as a whole. It's remarkable how I set my own “ceiling” in terms of what I can achieve with modern production and arrangement. I'm usually self-critical and rarely happy with anything I create, but I can honestly say there's only one small thing I'd change about the whole record. I'm so proud of it… It's not so much a single song or moment, but more the cumulative effort of the whole project, a statement I feel completely satisfied with. And I couldn't have asked for a better reception in terms of reviews, radio, and so on.

Can you also tell us about the podcast of the same name that anticipated the release of the album?

The podcast was a cathartic process that complemented the album, since it helped me work through so many experiences and losses I went through in my personal life while making “The Art Of Losing”. I was able to talk to and learn from so many wise, insightful people. They were much further along the road of grief than I was, and I was able to learn from their journeys. It's a kind of companion project to the record, for those who want to dig deeper into the themes and reflect on how it's possible to make art from, or in the midst of, loss. I spoke with David Bowie's producer, Mario McNulty, about the making of Bowie's “lost” album, as well as with Patrick Jones about the poetry of grief, Sophie Daniels about losing a child, and Kat Lister about being widowed at a young age.

Among the messages you received after the release of “The Art Of Losing”, is there one that particularly struck you?

I think the overall online reaction to “5 AM” had the biggest impact - in terms of making me realise - just how much the album was communicating to people. I was scared to share a song dealing with the subject of sexual assault - I'm usually a very private person - but I realised the moment I released it that it wasn't just my story: it was a shared story that so many people have lived through. That was the most important moment after the release, the one that struck me the most: all these people sharing their own stories with me, both publicly and privately.

Your lyrics are often autobiographical. What's the key to channelling your feelings, and especially your painful experiences, into words and music?

I'm not sure I know the key, beyond simply allowing yourself to be authentic and channelling your experience into the songwriting process. I write down a lot of lines and thoughts as they come to me, and I try not to focus too much on the idea of someone listening to the song once it's finished, but rather try to make as accurate a record as possible of the moment or feeling in question. That's all we can do as songwriters: translate pain.

Living through pain and letting it do its own work until its energy is spent, as you put it in “Let It Hurt”. Is that really possible for everyone?

I'm not sure it's something everyone can or wants to allow themselves, but for me it was a mantra about how I needed to stop avoiding facing my pain and my loss. I'd been touring and travelling a lot during that period of time: there was a huge part of me that had “frozen” so many of my feelings, along with the complicated process of coming to terms with what had happened in my life. This song was a message to myself to be brave and face everything head-on. At the end of the day, allowing yourself to be vulnerable can sometimes be the bravest act of all. Face the difficulty and commit to understanding what happened in your life. So many people turn to alcohol or drugs to numb the pain. That's not for me: better to face it head-on.

The track “5 AM” struck me too, for the gravity of the traumatic situations it describes with an unprecedented, almost peaceful approach.

Thank you. I wanted to present these events, which are so common in the lives of many women, in a fairly “undramatic” way, avoiding the usual depictions that often come with putting something like this on screen or into words. It felt more powerful to let the words carry that weight and not have the music competing for attention. I wanted it to be unassuming, to creep up on the listener. I wanted to create an impact through the collision between the sweet sound of the piano and the brutality of the words.

One of the many virtues of “The Art Of Losing” is its variety of musical genres. In your songwriting, do the lyrics or the music come first?

I usually find myself writing the music first. I'm inspired by an enormous variety of music, from neoclassical to heavy rock, so it's only natural that this comes through in the way I write. I'm often labelled “art rock” or “baroque pop”, which is one way of making sense of how I blend these different styles. I don't censor myself if I want to write a heavy rock song like “My Confessor” and then place a Max Richter-style piano interlude right next to it.

I find a certain affinity, in your way of describing pain and hardship, with Martin Gore, who has always stressed its cathartic effect. Do you feel the same way?

Thank you! I'm a huge fan of Depeche Mode and I think Martin Gore is an incredible songwriter. The band had a huge influence on this new album. I wanted to draw on his ability to combine dark subject matter with cheerful, joyous, almost hymn-like music, and I kept that as a model approach for the singles from “The Art Of Losing”.

As an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, is there one instrument in particular you use to translate your thoughts into music? Can you also tell us about your passion for analogue music and vintage instruments?

As composing tools for the main structure of a song, I tend to write at the piano or on guitar, although some of the tracks on this new album were composed on the OB-6 synthesizer directly in Pro Tools, which for me was an evolution of the process. While playing with the Simple Minds between 2014 and 2018, I was learning and going through their catalogue in order to play it live on stage, and naturally I became very interested in analogue and vintage synthesizers. That inevitably influenced the instruments I collected for my studio and the way I wrote new songs for "The Art Of Losing".

You've carried out so many collaborations over the years – which artist has enriched you the most, and why? And who would you like to collaborate with in the future?

It's hard to pick one experience out of all of them, because I learned so many different things from everyone I've worked with. As for what probably enriched "The Art Of Losing" the most, I'd say my collaborations with Manic Street Preachers, especially with James Dean Bradfield. From him I got a clear sense of how his craft as a songwriter is largely the result of a consistent work ethic and of revising and rewriting. I applied that method to making the whole album. For instance, there was a point where "Unravel" just wasn't working and I thought about scrapping it, but I kept in mind what James had told me about writing over 30 versions of their "Faster", and I kept reworking, rearranging and "unpicking" the song until everything fell into place, at the very last minute. As for future collaborations, I'd love to work in the studio with Kate Bush. I think she's a true production genius. I love her sense of playfulness.

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