The Art Of Losing
Marc Burrows
, March 15th, 2021 09:33
With guest vocals from James Dean Bradfield (and drumming from Sterling Campbell, it s nonetheless Catherine Anne Davies s own production skills that make her second Anchoress album so special, finds Marc Burrows
“Ouch,” sings Catherine Anne Davies, right at the starter pistol, “this is going to hurt”. Any good iconoclast knows to put their manifesto in the first line, and in her persona as The Anchoress, Davies is always iconoclastic about her own trauma.
She’s absolutely right as well.
The Art of Losing really fucking hurts. It hurts more as it goes along. The whole record is a processing plant for rage and pain, sharpening it to a point, adding the cruellest barbs and driving it into your skin. Deeper it goes, hurting more with every tap of the sonic mallet. Right through the wrists and ankles, right against the rough wood of the cross, right through the side. Every line is a thorn, a nail, the whole Lance o