Recently I caught up with award winning singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and author Catherine Anne Davies aka The Anchoress. To discuss her debut album, 'Confessions of A Romance Novelist', working with Paul Draper and the future.

GS:     Being a multi-instrumentalist, firstly I'd like to ask which instrument you first started playing and what age you were when you began writing your own music?

CAD:     The first instrument that I started playing was the flute, which I took to studying quite seriously from about the age of 8. I ended up playing in orchestras until I picked up my sister's guitar around the age of 14 and almost immediately started writing songs at the same time. Teaching myself to play different instruments and writing have always gone hand in hand really. 

GS:     Do you have a go-to instrument when you begin to write a song?

CAD:     It depends what phase I am going through. There can be months when I only write on the piano. There were years when I only wrote on the guitar, too. At the moment I'm actually writing a fair bit in the studio which is an entirely different process altogether, where the song might emerge from more electronic elements, loops, etc. 

GS:     Do you have a favourite guitar, one you can’t leave home without?

CAD:     I've been on the road for nearly the past 2 years with the beautiful Gibson J165. Because it's a small body acoustic it's been the perfect touring guitar. Very comfortable to play, compact, but tonally as hefty as the J200. 

GS:     Have you had any music tuition or are you completely self-taught on all instruments?

CAD:     I could read music before I could read and I had "proper" lessons for about 7 years on the flute, including music theory. I'm entirely self-taught on the guitar and piano though. I think once you've picked up one instrument, it's fairy easy to transfer that knowledge onto another one though. 

GS:     Which artists have been inspirational to you becoming a musician?

CAD:     My biggest inspirations are probably those that have seized complete authorial and artistic control: Kate Bush, David Bowie, Prince. There's a common thread that runs through all of my favourite albums and that's about the singular vision and total control the artists had in releasing their creative visions. That's been very important to me throughout the process of making my album: something I probably would not have been able to retain in a major label system.

GS:     Your album Confessions of A Romance Novelist was released in January 2016, and has been voted one of ‘The Best of The Year So Far’ by HMV. It also has received great reviews from MOJO, GQ, Prog, The Sunday Times, and The Observer. Are you happy with the way the album has been received up to now?

CAD:     To be honest I tend to avoid reading reviews. It's impossible to avoid completely and it's great, of course, when people "get" what you've been aiming for. But for me, the thing I enjoy is being in the studio and making records.

GS:     The album was co-produced by yourself and Paul Draper formally of Mansun. How did you two meet and begin working together?

CAD:     We first met after Paul emailed me after hearing some of my home recordings. We recorded a couple of my songs but for various reasons it didn't pan out at the time. We kept in touch and eventually started working on what would become the album a few years ago. It's turned into a great ongoing creative partnership: I've just co-written half of his solo album with him and we are busy working away on finishing ‘Spooky Action’ before I start up on the next Anchoress record.

GS:     Where was the album recorded, mixed, and mastered?

CAD:     The album was recorded at (the now defunct) Sofa Sound in Acton, Stanley House, and my old flat in Blackheath. It was mixed by Cenzo Townshend at Decoy Studios and P. Dub at The Loft and mastered by Jon Astley at Close To The Edge.

GS:     I’ve seen you many times online editing drums and various other instrument tracks using Pro Tools. Where did you learn how to use the program and do you use any other DAW?

CAD:     I started out using a multi-track and eventually shifted over to Logic before graduating onto Pro Tools. I learnt how to use it from a mixture of teaching myself and learning "on the job" in the studio. I still sometimes shift back over to Logic if the track feels like it needs writing a little more in the box but I tend to use Pro Tools in the main now.

GS:     The arrangements on the album are very well worked, how many different instruments did you play on the record?

CAD:     I think I lost count after a while... I certainly raided my collection of eBay acquisitions during the making of the album. As well as the usual suspects of piano, guitar, etc. There's also some flute, omnichord, accordion, and glockenspiel on there.

GS:     Earlier you mentioned you had co-written some tracks for the forthcoming Paul Draper album. Did you contribute to Paul’s debut single ‘Feeling My Heart Run Slow’?

CAD:     I've written 7 tracks for Paul's solo project and also been assisting with the engineering of the record as well as playing synths, piano, and additional vocals.

GS:     You are currently on a run of live shows that has seen you play The Focus Wales Festival in Wrexham to the Great Escape Festival in Brighton where you headlined the BBC Introducing stage. How did that feel?

CAD:     We had a great run of live shows over the summer, culminating in playing the Bowers & Wilkins stage at Womad which was an incredible experience. It was quite a challenge to try and bring the album to life with a 5 piece band but it was really memorable to travel around the UK meeting so many people who've enjoyed the album. I'll be playing one final show this winter at Kings Place in London on December 17th before drawing a line under the Confessions album.

GS:     When not performing as a solo artist you have been spending time playing keyboards touring with Simple Minds. How did that happen?

CAD:     I play live keys and guitars with Simple Minds, as well as contributing vocals. The whole thing came about after collaborating with Jim Kerr for the Dark Flowers project. The producer Paul Statham was the connecting figure for the Dark Flowers project, which I co-wrote 4 songs for (and was also where I first met Jim from Simple Minds).

GS:     You have already begun writing the follow up to ‘Confessions’ and have even chosen producer Bernard Butler of Suede, what made you choose Bernard for the next record?

CAD:     I've actually been working with Bernard sporadically over the past few years while I was making Confessions, so chronologically speaking what we've been doing is already fairly developed in terms of being recorded. However, what we've been recording together will probably not be a followup to Confessions so much as a tangential offshoot but it's still a work in progress at the moment, so it's impossible to say definitively. I don't really like to pin things down until they're finished. The next Anchoress album is something I've already begun recording though, alongside continuing to write for and work on Paul's solo album. All these things are being juggled simultaneously and one will pop to the surface before the others!

GS:     When can we expect to hear something from the new record?

CAD:     I'll probably play a couple of new songs at the show in December. Sometimes it's really helpful to developing an arrangement to bring the songs to life in a live setting before committing them to record.

GS:     Do you think it is essential for an artist to be signed to a major label to make their way in the music industry these days or do you think it can be done on a smaller label or even independently?

CAD:     My manager works with an artist signed to a major and the sense I get from him is that it is no easier, apart from the perspective of having bigger budgets to spend on marketing. With an independent or small label you just have to be more creative with the ways in which you can grow your audience, and develop the patience to let it happen more organically.

GS:     Catherine thank you so much for taking the time to talk to Guitar School today. It’s been an honour and has been really interesting to hear how you shape and mould your songs. We wish you all the very best for the rest of 2016 and for the future!