The Anchoress’ strikingly-titled single I Had A Baby, Not A Lobotomy was inspired by her experience as a new mother facing the bewildering attitudes of those around her.
After her daughter’s birth five years ago, she heard comments – now immortalised in the song – including: ‘I guess you’ll be retiring now’, ‘You’re getting on, the kid will hate ya,’ and ‘Guess now there won’t be any more tours?’
While Catherina Anne Davies stresses that the lead track from her latest Anchoress album, As We Once Were, humorous rather than a furious or vindictive rant, she admits she found the process of channelling the phrases into art somewhat therapeutic.
“I would jot it down on my phone every time someone would say something to me that pissed me off. Rather than want to throttle them, I would write it down and bite my lip, and it became this litany of comments.
“Some of it was really well meaning, or they thought they were being helpful, so I didn’t want to make people feel bad. The best thing you can do with satire and humour is to try and get people to think again. I always want to do that with a smile on my face.”
When the track went live she knew she’d struck a chord. “My phone has been blowing up, as the kids say, with all sorts of people, including a lot of other musicians and producers who are trying to navigate this shit the whole time.
“They’re all saying a very big, resounding ‘Yes! I feel like this, too!’ And other people are saying, ‘You wouldn’t believe some of the inane shit I’ve had thrown at me – jobs I’ve lost when they found out I had kids.’
“So yeah, it’s resonated in quite a serious way, even though my intention was fairly tongue-in-cheek.”
The song’s parent album is something of a concept set, partly inspired by a family discovery. “I found a lost tape of my grandmother’s voice, talking about her life, which is heard throughout the record,” she explains. That’s the thread that holds it all together.”
Four generations of Davies women are heard on As We Once Were – including her five-year-old daughter, of course. And there are other sounds to be heard that might be considered to come from a past era.
“I was invited to come into Pete Townshend’s studios and use all his vintage synths,” Davies says. “I got to have a whale of the time piloting all these crazy machines.
“It’s made the album very synth-heavy, but it goes to a whole new level from what I’ve done previously, because I’ve never worked on modular synths before.
I’m not a fan of negativity and moaning without some sense of what the solution is
“It was a real learning curve. On modern synths you can press a pre-saved patch and just play. With these you have to create and shape the sound yourself; and the sound I made that day on that synth, I won’t be able to repeat.
“And that chimes in with what the record is about, which is the impossibility of freezing time and holding onto moments.”
Meanwhile, she’s has launch a podcast called The Milk And The Music, talking to working musicians about their experiences of motherhood. Guests include Lau.ra, Charlotte Hatherley and Gazelle Twin.
Davies hopes it will move beyond storytelling to offer practical solutions. “I’m not a fan of negativity and moaning without some sense of what the solution is,” she explains.
As We Once Were is on sale now.