It’s been five years since the release of new material from The Anchoress (the musical moniker of Catherine Anne Davies). A half decade can seem an extensive period in the often fickle world of the music industry (can I just state at this point I do despair at the label of the creation of music as an “industry”), but in that time Davies has not been resting on her laurels. Motherhood coincided with the release of previous studio album, The Art of Losing, which obviously took precedence for a time. However, it did not quell Davies’ desire to create, nor should it.
It is in light of this kind of blind thinking, of motherhood equaling the cessation of creativity and work, that gave rise to As We Once Were’s lead single, ‘I Had a Baby Not a Lobotomy.’ It is a song that is satirical in its dealing with those eager to write off the notion of a young mother as unable to maintain a creative workload and ethos whilst balancing it with parenting young children. The track is catchy, clever and cutting in the most delicious way.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves in terms of tracklisting on the album. The opening track, ‘Du Temps Perdu (Introduction)’ has a musical notation to it that signals a lineage with past musical motifs on both Confessions of a Romance Novelist and The Art of Losing, providing a sense of trilogy, yet also evoking new elements, particularly with the use of the youngest Anchorite (namely Davies’ daughter). The intro prepares us for a sonic journey we are about to embark on.
From there, the pace quickly shifts to the choral strut of ‘Throw Over Your Man.’ An anthemic powerhouse of a song that includes guitars and vocals from James Dean Bradfield. If you were of the opinion that songs on queer love trysts were dreamy, meandering affairs, think again. The passion that Virginia Woolf displayed in her transgression with Vita Sackville-West has been brought to life magnificently by Davies. The video also displays the same passion, providing Bushesque Wuthering Heights-like imagery that is more a homage rather than a direct pastiche. “Virginia” in white, and “Vita” in black, the video flips between the two personas which is also evident in the song’s ‘call and response’ vocals of ‘Vita – Virginia’ overlaid on that sumptuous chorus, ending with some great crescendo drums and percussion by Keir Adamson.
‘I guess you’ll be retiring now’ is the opening line to ‘I Had a Baby Not a Lobotomy’ in which Davies is most emphatically responding with “not on your Nellie, because guess what – HERE I AM! Buckle in!” Pulsing, poppy, and ever so punchy. Davies has said that motherhood has radicalised her and she holds no punches here. Superbly sardonic. The video is quite possibly the best The Anchoress has made.
‘Damsels’ was one of the first tracks written for the album and had its first WIP airing (for me) at Summerhall in Edinburgh in 2023 – as did fellow album track ‘All Fall Down’ (more on the track to follow), which emphasises just how far back the work on As We Once Were extends. At the Edinburgh gig Catherine had stated the title of the track was in flux and may be subject to change, but it appears ‘Damsels’ stuck quite steadfast as a title from there. It has a great groove, with a great bassline by Charlie Cawood. There appears a roll call of pioneering and trailblazing women. Names that defy the traditional misnomer of the damsel in distress. There are no meek and mild women here. Davies describes them as banging on windows, tolling bells, and generally making their words and voices heard.
‘In order to liberate myself from the past I have to; reconstruct it, ponder about it, make a statue out of it, and get rid of it.’ These words by Louise Bourgeois compliment the reflective nature of the album title track, ‘As We Once Were.’ Musically the most openly pop song on the album, it’s no less meaningful for it. It is another example of Davies’ mastery at offering songs with pop sensibilities whilst doing exactly as Bourgeois words infer; making the listener ponder, build, and (perhaps) dismantle ideas, myths and preconceptions of how our past can overshadow our future – if we allow it to. We can return to times of the past that were enjoyable, life-altering, but we should stay there at our peril, for ‘we can never be the same as we once were.’
‘Happiness Don’t Show Up Like It Should’ is the ‘sonic runway’ (as Davies described it) to the second half of the album. It’s a marker to a musical change from the more up tempo tracks to those with a slower pace. The song itself is short, acting as part segue and part musical equivalent of a short story. The crux of which is what its title implies, good things arrive when you least expect them to, or when you are least inclined to think they will. The fade out at the end of the track produces an eerie frisson within me.
A ‘path towards internal peace’ is how Davies ultimately described what ‘All I Really Want Is Peace’ is about. Musically, there is something about it that almost leans to country music. Perhaps it’s the way the guitars sound, or the way the strings have been incorporated. Or perhaps it’s the soft, lengthy cymbals. It feels meditative. When I listen to The Anchoress, I know that I will learn new things. In the lyrics of this song is the talk of the ‘pyrrhic victory’. It was not something I had come across before and found myself looking it up. One might better recognise it as similar to ‘winning the battle, but losing the war.’ Although the pyrrhic victory is a victory but at a very high cost. And a person who is seeking victory at all costs is ultimately going to get themselves hurt, right?
‘Stop the World’ begins with the voice of Davies’ daughter, whose language and laughter offers another magical pause-for-thought. Where are we headed to next? What’s in store for us? Is it something painful and profound? I will not pretend to know what the context of the song truly is, nor should I need to know it. Catherine described the song as being written ‘during one of the darkest and most difficult times in [her] life.’ Although ‘out the other side’ (as Catherine continues), the aftermath of what happened is so evident. Yes the song is elusive, yet its elusiveness does not dilute its impact. Juxtaposing the joy of her daughter’s voice and laughter with the song’s lyrics only reinforces their magnitude.
‘Du Temps Perdu (Reprise)’ continues the motif of the album’s beginning but adds something organically mechanical (if that isn’t an oxymoron). Clicks of physical devices – the buttons of a cassette player, perhaps? – offer the oral sensation of true physical media. Davies’ sardonic statement that no AI was used in the making of the album is one that the soundscape of ‘Perdu’ presses home.
‘You are not going to destroy me’. These are the closing words to ‘What You Did’, mouthed by Elizabeth Taylor. It’s a song of defiance and resilience. A waltzing tune that simultaneously spirals sonically, only to rise again, moving away from the waltz tempo into a palette of differing voices. It takes several listens to isolate them and decipher their words. The song mirrors the conflicting elements of a person under coercive control. Are my thoughts even my own? If you are lucky. If you can see the signs, the red flags and trust what you’re seeing and feeling, you WILL extricate yourself from danger. ‘Hell I’m on to you now’, the choral refrain that states that, from experience I have learned. I know your type and you won’t succeed again.
‘All Fall Down’ gives us the measure of time as a metaphor ‘he’s always half a step behind’ but … he is always on your tail. This track contains my favourite line. I love abstract lyrics that make you ponder as to their true meaning and here Davies has not let the side down. ‘So why I am still half past three at seventeen?’ I don’t claim to have the first idea what that means but it enthrals me all the same. Davies describes the song as one dealing with the subject of generational trauma and of trying to ‘break the cycle’ of carrying the repercussions of the trauma forward to future generations. Its slow tempo adds to the lament.
My ears were instantly ensnared and beguiled when I heard those opening percussive tolls on ‘Hand To The Tide’. There was something about the tolls that immediately instilled a notion that this song was going to be an epic tale. And boy, is it! There’s an ancient ethereal atmosphere to it. Something celtic, perhaps. Something Bushesque, dare I say? Powerful words evoking something seismic. Then a chorus with a register to Davies’ voice I have not heard before. For all the world it reminded me of Agnetha Faltskog during those vocal strains. Catherine explained to me that she was hoping to evoke a plaintive child voice by using a higher vocal register. It worked! Not so much in its sound, but through its fear and urgency. Roughly midway through the song the music takes on a heavy rock tone, with grunting guitar. It only heightens the sonic gravity. One final sound of the chorus and then spoken words from Davies brings to an end a song that has delivered something tragic in its subject matter. I wasn’t sure what exactly (Davies has since spoken of the song being about the loss of family members due to a freak tidal accident), but it was nonetheless impactful. I was reduced to tears. For me, ‘Hand To The Tide’ is the album’s pinnacle track.
‘A child is not a poem, a poem is not a child. There is no either/or.’ These words are expressed in Welsh at the beginning of ‘She Knows Her Place,’ a sequel to The Beatles’ ‘She’s Leaving Home.’ The song ponders if the she at the heart of the song has exchanged one limitation of freedom for another. A resignation of the role of carer at the cost of artistic expression. The two were deemed to be mutually exclusive for so long in women’s history. Musically, it is another slow waltz that reinforces the might of the lyrics. Postpartum health is also alluded to through the closing out of the song.
The final track, ‘Happiness (Epilogue)’ allows us to resurface. It brings us back to Catherine’s grandmother’s voice with her ending words of ‘there’s so much to look forward to.’ Finally, a tune from Catherine’s daughter and a final note of laughter. I find it incredibly uplifting and hopeful. It makes me tearful each time I hear it.
I have listened to the album at least seven times now and it continues to impact upon me in the most extraordinary and meaningful ways.
A number of music magazines have reviewed the album and it has been given high praise by all. Any negativity it has received has been minor and (one could say) pernickety in detail.
As We Once Were is out now on the label Last night From Glasgow – website available HERE
You can also purchase copies from The Anchoress Bandcamp site HERE
Please return to my blog on Monday for some exciting Anchoress news!
