Album Review: The Anchoress - “The Art Of Losing”

 

An album that kind of slipped past me when it came out back in the spring, it seems apt that we're finally getting round to reviewing The Art Of Losing, the second album from Catherine Ann Davies aka the Anchoress as 2021 draws to a close as if there's any justice then this will be on several Album of the Year lists across the board.

The Art Of Losing is an album borne out of loss, grieving and some quite horrible personal traumas. Yet Davies takes these difficult subjects and winds them into gentle orchestrated lush sounding songs which wrap themselves around you like a soft blanket on a winter's day. Let It Hurt takes aim at misogyny and frustration beneath a gorgeous string-drenched backing similar to the desolate All Farewells Should Be Sudden while a duet with James Dean Bradfield on The Exchange (Davies has worked with the Manics as well as Bernard Butler among others in the past) soars through on glacial keyboards with the repeated refrain of "You're not to blame" like an arm around the shoulder.

This isn't a comfortable album to listen to by any means though - 5am's lyrics about rape and domestic abuse make for genuinely unsettling listening, brought into focus all the more clearly by the beautiful musical backing and the stripped down almost minimalist With The Boys is a fierce retort against a society which expects women to conform to the standards set in the media. It's not all piano based softness either - Show Your Face and the title track are powered along on bleeping synths which give way to chiming guitars reminiscent of Roxy Music or early Simple Minds (another group who Davies has collaborated with) while Unravel starts off with jabbing strings which give way to driving tribal drums while My Confessor starts off in almost bluesy territory before an explosion of feedback kicks in on the chorus.

Despite its often harrowing lyrical themes though, the overriding theme here is of defiance, of rising above and of staring down your demons and it makes for a thoroughly engaging album that you can lose yourself in for days at a time. A truly breathtaking album from a very talented individual, The Art Of Losing is a great record.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATONG: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 (9/10)

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