The Anchoress writes: When I was choosing which tracks to cover for the ‘Versions’ project, I was mostly led by instinct, where I felt I could add a new or different perspective to something that was already really familiar to listeners. I tackled some pretty sacred cows - Radiohead, Nirvana, Depeche Mode. It was sometimes nerve wracking releasing one into the wild, waiting to get told you’ve “ruined” someone’s favourite song. I wanted to choose songs that had a special significance to fans and be brave and courageous in rethinking that in a new way. There can be a bit of snobbery around covers. People assume that they just slavishly follow the original recording, missing the amazing opportunity that they present to re-envision and re-cast something - a real gift to anyone developing their craft as a recording engineer or producer. I found myself exploring arrangement and production particularly deeply because of the nature of having a ready-made song to play with. It’s a gift to allow yourself to focus purely on the components parts of the arrangement and then, in turn, dig deeply into how the production and mix will serve your chosen mood and take on the already familiar song, without having to worry about whether you want to refine a lyric or if the chorus is “impactful” enough. The heavy-lifting has already been done by the songwriter. Your job is only to re-cast it in a way that makes the listener hear it in a new or different light. PRESS RELEASE THE ANCHORESS ANNOUNCES ‘VERSIONS’ ALBUM “Beguiling and insightful” - THE SUNDAY TIMES The Elton John championed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist and producer The Anchoress (aka Catherine Anne Davies) will release her album of modern reworkings, ‘Versions’ this autumn via the recently relaunched Drowned in Sound label, compiling 10 re-imaginings of songs by the likes of Depeche Mode, The Cure, Nirvana, Nico and Halsey, all produced and mixed by Davies. The album will appear on limited edition vinyl and CD, alongside a full digital release and will be pressed on Eco-Mix vinyl. As Davies explains, “each record pressed will be a completely unique combination, reworked from leftover wax pellets which feels very apt for the concept of the album, as well as being a more eco-friendly method of production. I love the idea that, like the collection of songs being pieces of other people’s imaginations, this record is quite literally made up of unused parts of other records.” The ‘Versions’ project was initially born as Catherine sought to flex her production and arrangement skills following the success of her second album ‘The Art of Losing’. She set about re-working classic alternative songs to probe the possibilities of reimagining well-known compositions in new contexts. On choosing which tracks to cover, Davies says that she was mostly led by an “instinct where I felt I could add a new or different perspective to something that was already really familiar to listeners. I tackled some pretty sacred cows - the Radiohead, Nirvana, Depeche Mode. It was sometimes nerve wracking releasing one into the wild, waiting to get told you’ve ruined someone’s favourite song. I wanted to choose songs that had a special significance to fans and be brave and courageous in rethinking that in a new way.” ‘Versions’ features songs such as her dream-pop reworking of ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ by New Order (watch the video) and her synth-drenched nostalgic reimagining of the dark Manics classic from The Holy Bible, ‘This Is Yesterday’ (as seen at this year’s Glastonbury Festival). “There can be a bit of snobbery around covers”, Davies adds, “People assume that they just slavishly follow the original recording, missing the amazing opportunity that they present to re-envision and re-cast something - a real gift to anyone developing their craft as a recording engineer or producer. I found myself exploring arrangement and production particularly deeply because of the nature of having a ready-made song to play with. It’s a gift to allow yourself to focus purely on the components parts of the arrangement and then, in turn, dig deeply into how the production and mix will serve your chosen mood and take on the already familiar song, without having to worry about whether you want to refine a lyric or if the chorus is “impactful” enough. The heavy-lifting has already been done by the songwriter. Your job is only to re-cast it in a way that makes the listener hear it in a new or different light.” ‘Versions’ was produced, mixed, and engineered by The Anchoress and mastered by Jon Astley (Peter Gabriel, Tori Amos) and also features guest appearances from multi-instrumentalist Charlie Cawood (Medieval Baebes, Lost Knives) The album will be released to coincide with a run of autumn shows, including a brand new London date on 6th October 2023 at the Union Chapel. This newly announced show follows on from her critically celebrated headline tour with a full band (★★★★★ Mail on Sunday, “The set has a melancholic splendour running through its veins.” Yorkshire Post) culminating in her largest headline show to date at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in May. Following several years of isolating due to being clinically vulnerable, The Anchoress’ first live show of 2023 back in January at the Rockaway Beach festival in January was heralded as “the most compelling artist of the weekend” by Under the Radar Magazine. ‘Versions’ arrives on the heels of the acclaimed top 40 album ‘The Art of Losing’, hailed by Caitlin Moran as “the inadvertent, beautiful, and truthful soundtrack to this moment” and The Sunday Times named as one of their 7 “must-hear” Albums of the year. Elton John also praised it as “one of my favourite records of the year”; PROG magazine named it their album of the year too. VERSIONS TRACKLISTING 1 Enjoy The Silence (Depeche Mode) 2 Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order) 3 Climbing Up The Walls (Radiohead) 4 Friday I’m In Love (The Cure) 5 Pennyroyal Tea (Nirvana) 6 These Days (Nico) 7 Martha’s Harbour (All About Eve) 8 The Tradition (Halsey) 9 This Is Yesterday (Manic Street Preachers) 10 Sweetness Follows (R.E.M.) 11 Bonus Track (CD only) Friday I’m In Love (Acoustic Version) 2023 Tour Dates 02 Sept BLANDFORD, End Of The Road Festival 21 Sept LIVERPOOL, Leaf 22 Sept EDINBURGH, Summerhall 23 Sept HULL, Central Library 24 Sept LEEDS, Brudenell Social Club 30 Sept CARDIFF, Acapella - SOLD OUT 04 Oct CAMBRIDGE, Junction 06 Oct LONDON, UNION CHAPEL theanchoress.co.uk ACCLAIM FOR THE ART OF LOSING: “One of my favourite records of the year.” ELTON JOHN “Album of the Year” PROG “A brave and inspirational album. And what a remarkable artist.” - THE SUNDAY TIMES (Album of the Week) “The Art of Losing has the critics bandying about words such as ‘masterpiece’ …and it’s hard to argue with a record packing such an emotional punch.” - STUART MACONIE ‘The Art of Losing’, which featured a duet with James Dean Bradfield (Manic Street Preachers) and drums from Sterling Campbell (David Bowie, Duran Duran). successfully transformed wall-to-wall critical plaudits into a Top 40 position in the UK album charts, as well as the #1 spot on iTunes and several radio playlists. It was also named an album of the year by The Sunday Times, The Line of Best Fit, Mail on Sunday, and The Telegraph, and found fans everywhere from The Financial Times, to a spot on Made in Chelsea.