AWARD-WINNING WELSH MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST THE ANCHORESS RETURNS WITH HER CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED SECOND ALBUM 'THE ART OF LOSING'
Featuring the BBC 6Music playlisted singles 'Show Your Face' and 'The Art of Losing', plus a brand new duet with James Dean Bradfield (Manic Street Preachers) and drumming from Sterling Campbell (David Bowie, Duran Duran).
'The Art of Losing' single has garnered great attention including Sunday Times Hottest Track and a video feature on Sunday Brunch.
Interviews for the album include features with the Independent, Quietus, Prog, Yorkshire Evening Post, Scottish Herald, The Sun, Line of Best Fit, Record Collector, Clash, and many more.
During release week, confirmed events include Tim's Twitter Listening Party, live sessions for Times Radio & BBC Wales, appearance on BBC Radio 4's Front Row, Rough Trade Q&A album launch event, Sunday Brunch TV feature, co-hosting Drowned in Sound's radio show on Soho Radio, and the announcement of a new headline show at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.The Art of Losing is the second album from Welsh multi-instrumentalist The Anchoress (aka Catherine Anne Davies), following up on her critically acclaimed debut album, Confessions of A Romance Novelist, which was named amongst the Guardian critics' Albums of the Year, won HMV's Welsh Album of the Year, Best Newcomer at the PROG awards, and a nomination for the Welsh Music Prize.Written and produced by Davies, The Art Of Losing ambitiously navigates the topic of loss in all its forms and was written and recorded during an unfeasibly busy few years as Davies found solace and purpose in a range of projects whilst navigating her griefs. Most recently this came via the release of her collaborative album In Memory of My Feelings with Bernard Butler (on Pete Paphides' label Needle Mythology), duetting with the Manic Street Preachers on Resistance Is Futile, and being personally invited by The Cure's Robert Smith to perform at his Meltdown Festival. She also brought a new generation of ears to legendary Scottish rock band Simple Minds, where she spent much of the last five years appearing on the Big Music (2015) and Walk Between Worlds (2018).
REVIEWS FOR THE ART OF LOSING:Visceral, uncompromising � Album if The Week. THE SUNDAY TIMES Swaggering synthpop. Infectiously buoyant. **** UNCUT Cuts latter-day Bowie art rock shapes **** MOJODavies has given a powerful, challenging voice to her grief. **** OBSERVERSwaggering synthpop. Infectiously buoyant. **** UNCUTExistential torment has never sounded so alluring. *****PROGInspired **** NMERapturous 9/10 LINE OF BEST FITIntense, insistent and inspired� it's flesh and blood triumphing over the cerebral. PROGA defiant and glorious second album. Davies emerges triumphant from all of life's extremes� an intensely compelling record. **** CLASSIC POPShining alt-pop from an artisan of darkness. A literate, bristling record of catharsis and dramatic defiance. **** RECORD COLLECTOR
Critical praise for The Anchoress' debut album: A devastatingly powerful voice **** MOJOHounds Of Love, updated for the 21st century. PROGDavies is making music like nobody else at the moment. NMEOne of the year's most affecting records... a collection of songs that sets a high bar for intense, soul-tearing pop music. 9/10. THE LINE OF BEST FITAddresses the peaks and troughs of love, commitment and betrayal...Fascinating. SUNDAY TIMESA rich and complex debut...a blackly witty breakup album...Compelling. THE OBSERVERLike Karen Carpenter singing John Grant. UNCUTA flawless and sophisticated hyper-literate pop record. GQA record which could sneak big ideas past the listeners of daytime radio. Q...rich and satisfyingly poptastic. THE QUIETUS
