Catherine Anne Davies, lead singer of The Anchoress, a multi-instrumentalist from Wales, England, follows her debut novel Confessions of a Romance Novelist on her new album about the losses and traumas she has experienced over the past few years — including her father's death and several miscarriages.
Text: Ah Crooked Editor: Peach
Before releasing his new album, Davis told NME about the challenges and joys she faced in writing this sad but optimistic album, about the treatment she did for the release of the album, about her comfortable work with her familiar collaborator, James Dean Bradfield, the lead singer of Manic Street Preachers, and about her work on The Manic People's album The Holy Bible) as a benchmark.
Hello Catherine, why did you choose the song "The Art Of Losing" as the title song?
I don't think it's the result of my conscious choice. I think it gradually made itself the subject of this album in those days of creation and recording. I've always had this quote in my head, it comes from an Elizabeth Bishop poem called "An Art," and 'Loss is an Art' is the first line of the poem, telling us that we can learn to face loss better through repeated practice.
Obviously this is an irony, because we simply can't do it. The song itself is also questioning what we can gain from loss.
The question posed in the song: "Is the loss of reason out of reason?" What can you learn from the hardships of life? It seems to fit in with the theme of the album.
In the beginning, I believed in the Nietzschean saying, 'Kill what you can't kill and make you stronger.' But by the time I finished writing the song, I didn't agree with that view anymore, and I no longer thought we could extract anything positive out of our sadness.
It was actually the last song I wrote on the album, and the day after I finished writing that night, I went to Ray Davies' Nose Studio in Whimsical to record it. I think the song really feels like it's a combination of what has happened to me in the past.
There are many songs on this album that are about grief and loss, but the core is very positive.
Yes, there are even jokes in it. It's like adding to the difficulty of yourself, not just writing a slow song of sadness that naturally arises from the depths of sadness.
I wanted to paint a picture of the swirling mess in my head as I experienced trauma, the broken feeling of self-consciousness tearing apart. There is also the way of perception and experience of loss of time, and how one's memory blurs the order in which many things are arranged. I want to use music to give my listeners a sense of what it feels like to experience trauma.
What standards did you set for this album?
I love creators who expose the dark side of life, like Scott Walker's vortex of chaos, or like David Bowie's last album, Blackstar, and The Maniacs' Bible.
Many people may find this listening experience full of darkness and thorns, but for me it can help me out of difficult situations. In fact, you can get real fun listening to these dark style records, and in order to increase the challenge, choosing this theme that naturally tends to be slow-paced, introspective style can force yourself to make more experimental music.
Can familiar collaborators such as James Dean Bradfield help you in this difficult subject?
I still don't dare to ask him! I always felt rejected by him, but I still put them in a very high position to respect and keep a certain distance, and I didn't want to spoil the feeling of posting pictures of these idols on the bedroom wall as a child.
But when I thought no one would care about my experience, I found that there were still people in the music industry who cared about me, which was certainly a good feeling. I also want to do my best to make a good song for him to sing. James Dean Bradfield sings for you! There's nothing more inspiring to make good songs than that.
You were working on this record and at the same time they were on tour, right?
Yes, I spend a lot of time with the Band Maniacs. They really cared about taking care of me, not only professionally but also emotionally. They have their own recording studio and partners who have worked together for nearly two decades, and this professionalism has also deeply affected me and taught me a lot.
What was it like working with David Bowie's drummer Sterling Campbell?
The collaboration with Sterling began after we toured together, when I was already in contact with a close friend of Sterling's, Bowie's producer, Mario McNulty, who remixed Loss is Also an Art. I'm obsessed with Bowie's work and have a lot of respect for him.
They told me many stories about Bowie's legends, how it felt to work with him, and his sense of humor and constant source of motivation for innovation. Sterling himself was a great drummer, and anyone who saw him play drums knew he was second to none. His emotional sensing abilities are so strong that he knows how to do his job just by listening to the lyrics. ”
Do you sing these very personal songs live?
I need time to adjust myself and I need some trauma treatment to get my sanity back after those things. But the pandemic has put our plans off and given me more time to repair myself, which has helped me.
In addition to thinking about how to sing live, I also have to think about how to talk about this album. I still remember the first time I was treated, I was choking and crying uncontrollably, having difficulty accepting the words of others. I'm really not ready.
Do you think that if you have a second personality, can it help with stage performance?
Yes, because I'm not myself on stage, not Catherine. I myself and the man who played the lead singer of the band Friars were actually clearly separated, and that identity as an artist was armored.
When I was singing the song, the events and emotions in the song were far away from me, and I hope it doesn't cause any problems.
REF：
https://www.nme.com/news/music/anchoress-art-of-losing-interview-listen-manics-bowie-2861941