You may know her from her work with Manic Street Preachers on their 2018 gem, "Dylan and Caitlin", or you may know her for her recent remix work with Dot Allison, or you may know her for her own fine solo music, but what you know about The Anchoress (Catherine Anne Davies) is likely to be enlarged by her upcoming album, As We Once Were.
The new single, "Throw Over Your Man" is literary in the manner of that Manics collab about Dylan Thomas. And the Manics' own James Dean Bradfield joins The Anchoress here for this pop gem. The near-anthemic chorus is about Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West so English Literature graduates such as myself have more layers of enjoyment here. That the song has a sweep about it that's in line with what Kate Bush used to unleash is further praise. I can't wait to hear more from The Anchoress in 2026 and I'm sure I'll be writing about more new music from her later this summer.
"Throw Over Your Man" ft. James Dean Bradfield by The Anchores is out now.
As We Once Were by The Anchoress will be out on 7 August. Details via https://www.theanchoress.co.uk/.
[Photo: Talie Rose Eigeland]