The Anchoress

I did an interview with The Quietus​ about the album and what it all really means...

"Life is boring. Most people are boring. If you're presented with something you can unravel, that you can make a puzzle out of, that's really fascinating."

Listen back to Friday's show on the iPlayer or download The Verb podcast to hear me in session and conversation on BBC Radio 3:

Wow. Thanks to Gigwise for including the album alongside Radiohead, Bowie, and PJ Harvey. What's your album of the year so far?

★★★★  MOJO

"...Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love... updated for the 21st century." PROG

"Fascinating." THE SUNDAY TIMES

"Compelling." THE OBSERVER

THE ANCHORESS to release limited edition 7” for Record Store Day

On April 16th 2016, The Anchoress will release a special limited edition 7” to mark the 9th annual Record Store Day.

Following the critically-acclaimed release of her debut album, Confessions of a Romance Novelist, The Anchoress (aka Catherine AD) offers up a special limited 7 inch vinyl release for Record Store Day via Kscope, featuring the angular prog-pop ‘Popular’ (which reached no.2 in the Hype Machine) backed with a special previously unreleased string quartet version of the XFM playlisted and Steve Lamacq championed single ‘What Goes Around’. There will be just 1000 copies of this release on black vinyl.

On Facebook, Catherine said: “I am very proud to be a small part of supporting the lifeblood of our music stores and independent labels.”

The Anchoress was lauded earlier this year by the broadsheet press for her “compelling” (The Observer) and “fascinating” (Sunday Times) debut album, which she co-produced with Mansun’s Paul Draper, gracing the cover of the Guardian reviews section, as well as receiving coverage online from The Quietus, Drowned in Sound, The Line of Best Fit, Q, Gigwise, NPR and more. Garnering comparisons to John Grant, Lana Del Rey and Kate Bush, Catherine’s previous singles have received heavy rotation of BBC 6Music and Radio X, as well as recently recording a special BBC Maida Vale session.

Catherine spent much of 2015 touring the arenas of Europe and the UK playing with Simple Minds to over 500,000 people, plus millions of Americans when she performed at the Billboard Awards in Las Vegas. She will shortly announce her first live dates as The Anchoress, which has been a studio project up to now, as well as some special festival appearances.

Here’s what the press have been saying about The Anchoress’ debut album, which you can stream online now: http://smarturl.it/COARN_STREAM

"...a flawless and sophisticated hyper-literate pop record." GQ

"...hyper-literary but radio-friendly. Could sneak big ideas past the listeners of daytime radio." Q

"...Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love... updated for the 21st century." PROG

“…lit-infused, atmospheric pop record (with just the right amount of percentage of rock angles)… think Shirley Manson meets Stefani meets Tori.” NOISEY

"...literate and emotive. Karen Carpenter singing John Grant." UNCUT

★★★★  MOJO

"...addresses the peaks and troughs of love, commitment and betrayal...Fascinating." SUNDAY TIMES

"...a rich and complex debut...a blackly witty breakup album...Compelling." THE OBSERVER

"...insightful, intelligent songwriting on this hugely entertaining album . 9/10." THE LINE OF BEST FIT

“...delightfully theatrical and sharp as a bloody blade. Wales' much more explicitly feminist answer to Lana Del Rey.”  NPR

“...literate, ambitious and engrossing .” CLASH

"...equal parts prog and pop, oddball & accessible." NME

“...a dark, intricate and intelligent debut… an album of distinctive sound and ambitious ideals.” LOUDER THAN WAR

“...as comfortable at CBGB’s as in Broadway theatres.” LES INROCKUPTIBLES

I spoke to Q Magazine about life's most pressing matters, including befriending Taylor Swift, world famine, and being drowned by the local priest...

To mark today's album release, I spoke to Noisey​ about punching school bullies, hot chocolate that's better than crack, fancying Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre, and what's actually better than sex..

Head over to Clash Magazine who are premiering the brand new track "Doesn't Kill You" today. “The song is about taking the chaos you find yourself in and channelling it into something more positive. "You have to suffer..." The piano crash at the end was brought to you by a combination of red wine, codeine, and being forced to play through the pain of (what I didn't know at the time was) a detached ligament in my hand when it had all gone a bit Bobby Fischer...“