The talented artist took to her Instagram to announce the news with a snippet from the show.

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Within Sir John’s show, Rocket Hour, the songstress was interviewed regarding her new album entitled The Art of Losing released 12th March 2021. The new material sees the talented singer collaborate with friend and fellow musician James Dean Bradfield, best known as the frontman for legendary British rock band Manic Street Preachers. The band began their musical partnership with The Anchoress in July 2016, the singer provided support and also duetted with the band within the Eden Project, an education and socially focused botanical garden and venue located in Cornwall. The musical acts would again perform with each other the following year and again in October of the same year, they performed a duet of “Little Baby Nothing” at the Q Awards. She would then join the band on their 2018 album Resistance Is Futile, the album features a duet with the pair entitled “Dylan & Caitlin”. Band-member Nicky Wire has once stated that the intentions for the song were inspired by Sir John’s duet with Kiki Dee, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”.

Born as Catherine Anne Davies, The Anchoress described how the pair initially collaborated on the track “The Exchange” whilst expressing her excitement to work with her musical hero. “We are good friends now, yeah. I mean, I grew up just completely idolising the band. So for me, it was a bit of a dream come true to duet on their record, their last album. And then, I thought, “Well, I’ll ask him if he’ll return the favour on mine,” which he dutifully did. I don’t know if it was under duress. But yeah, it was amazing to hear that song back, something that I’d written, and then hear our voices together, when I’d grown up singing along to Manic records since I was 12 years old. So it was just, yeah, mad, absolutely mad.”

The Art of Losing was released via indie record label Kscope, the label is focused on the alternative and progressive rock genres and have a roster full of great acts. The album was written and self-produced by Davies, the singer also talked to Sir John concerning the producing process. “I wrote and produced the entire thing myself in the studio here, that you can see. So I had that luxury of not having an A&R person over my shoulder saying, “Oh, we need a couple more tunes like this.” So it is completely an artistic indulgence. And how often do you get to do that anymore?”

The singer’s new album can be described as filmic, with lyrics full of personal subject matter describing emotions such as grief and anger resulting in a storytelling lyrical context. Davies discussed this musical quality with Sir John, “I mean, I was really lucky to get to do a kind of expanded three-CD edition. And it’s got these beautiful alternative images, very David Lynch inspired. It’s almost like there is a kind of filmic quality, I guess, to the album. And it takes the listener on a journey. I’m desperate to play, but equally, we’ve got to be careful about playing live. And it’s just unknown at the moment, isn’t it? I think we’re all in the same boat.”

Within the interview, Sir John discussed gender roles within the music industry and stated how female singers and performers were leading the way. The “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” singer stated “That Female Artists ‘Are Doing All The Good Work’…I can see the vision in the songs, a bit like Rina Sawayama. The female artists at the moment are doing all the good work. The boys are lagging really, really behind… It’s all about the females at the moment, as far as I’m concerned.” Listen to the episode here.

The Anchoress is set to hit the road this Autumn with performance dates starting on 9th September 2021, the singer will also join long term musical partners Manic Street on several dates.

09/09/2021 – Hull Central Library – Kingston Upon Hull
11/09 – Trades Club – Hebden Bridge
25/09 – Long Division Festival 2021 – Wakefield
26/09 – O2 City Hall (With Manic Street Preachers) – Newcastle
28/09 – Usher Hall (With Manic Street Preachers) – Edinburgh
29/09 – The Caird Hall Dundee (With Manic Street Preachers) – Dundee
01/10 – Victoria Hall (With Manic Street Preachers) – Stoke-on-trent
02/10 – O2 Apollo Manchester (With Manic Street Preachers) – Manchester
04/10 – York Barbican Centre (With Manic Street Preachers) – York
07/10 – O2 Academy Leeds (With Manic Street Preachers) – Leeds
08/10 – Guildhall Studio (With Manic Street Preachers) – Portsmouth
10/10 – O2 Academy Bournemouth (With Manic Street Preachers) – Bournemouth
11/10 – Cambridge Corn Exchange (With Manic Street Preachers) – Cambridge
13/10 – The Forum (With Manic Street Preachers) – Bath
14/10 – Brighton Done (With Manic Street Preachers) – Brighton
11/03/2022 – Boileroom – Guildford
12/03 – Gloucester Guildhall – Gloucester
13/03 – Trades Club – Hebden Bridge
14/03 – Hull Central Library – Kingston Upon Hull
01/05 – Queen Elizabeth Hall – London

Today… 10.30am https://t.co/JX6gNWvADG

— The Anchoress (@The_Anchoress) March 9, 2021

The musician, also known as Catherine Anne Davies, said about the track: “I was so lucky that James agreed to lend his vocal to this track. It was written as a duet that explores a toxic dynamic created by those that see people as puppets rather than as human beings. When I first pulled his vocal into the finished track, I had one of those goosebump moments where you pinch yourself that one of your childhood idols is singing a song that I wrote.” 

Bradfield commented: “It was an intense experience for me. The direction was clear but it took me a while to zone in on the feel. It inadvertently helped me in how to sing some of the songs on Even In Exile [his 2020 solo album]. I learnt a new way to approach a song with her help.”  The video was directed by filmmaker JJ Eringa, and stars actor Genevieve Anderson. The dark and eerie music video features the quote: “He had never regarded other men as anything but puppets of a sort, created to fill up an empty world,” from 19th-century French writer Guy de Maupassant.  Discussing the video, The Anchoress mused: “We wanted to make a bit of a homage to The Red Shoes. We follow her fate as she is forced to play piano until her hands bleed, only to be brought back to life time and time again when she collapses with exhaustion.” 

The new album has already been named as album of the week from both the Mail on Sunday and The Line of Best Fit. The Telegraph has described it as: “A lyrically bold, musically lush art rock investigation of grief on which she sounds like a cross between torch-singing Chrissie Hynde and David Bowie on a synth-pop death trip.” 

Thanks to @TimdeLisle for making The Art of Losing the Mail on Sunday Album of the Week

The only only time I hope to ever be sharing space with Piers Morgan…

Read Tim’s lovely review here: https://t.co/XvE8NTNrX8

The album is out on Friday: https://t.co/lJfbssHUwp pic.twitter.com/obxP0hw94t

— The Anchoress (@The_Anchoress) March 8, 2021

Davies created her stage name, The Anchoress, in 2013. In 2016 she released her debut album 2016’s Confessions of a Romance Novelist, which scooped multiple awards and nominations, including HMV’s Welsh Album of the Year and Best Newcomer at the PROG Awards. She has supported Manic Street Preachers and performed with Simple Minds. 

We’ve been overwhelmed by the support from all the incredible artists & celebrities who will be helping to raise vital funds for our music therapy on Tue 15 Dec for our Christmas concert #SingForNordoffRobbins https://t.co/yt5APxGrNs @HipgnosisSongs @LSEplc @openexc @YourSSE pic.twitter.com/Rqmq6Po9M0

— Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy (@NordoffRobbins1) December 10, 2020

The list of performers for the virtual concert includes Cliff Richard; Rod Stewart; Robbie Williams; Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield; Simple Minds; Neil Young; Tony Bennett; Kaiser Chiefs; Rebecca Ferguson; Freya Ridings; Jack Savoretti and soul songstress Mica Paris. There will also be appearances from Led Zeppelin troubadour Robert Plant, The Who’s Roger Daltrey and Coloradan pop-rockers OneRepublic.

The musical sets will be interspersed with traditional and topical Christmas readings from British stars of stage and screen. Speakers will include Bill Nighy; Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and Rebecca star Lily James; actor, playwright and singer Kwame Kwei-Armah; Olivier Award winner Noma Dumezweni; and Freddie Fox.

Nordoff Robbins – founded in 1959 by Handsworth-born special education teacher Clive Robbins and American composer and pianist Paul Nordoff – helps provide therapy to music to those affected by life-limiting illness, isolation or disability. The charity works with  over 270 organisations across the UK; including schools, care homes, hospitals, mental health units, hospices, and neuro-rehab centres.

Previewing the gig this week, the charity’s Instagram page states: “Nordoff Robbins has been severely impacted by #COVID-19. Most of our fundraising activities have been cancelled, meaning we are expecting to lose over 50% of our income in 2020, putting music therapy at risk of stopping for the people who need it most. Our #SingForNordoffRobbins online Christmas concert will help raise vital funds for our music therapy.”

Host Nile Rodgers, the guitar behemoth behind the iconic sound of Chic and Sister Sledge, t0ld Music Week that he had a personal connection with the charity. He said “Nordoff Robbins music therapy is a charity close to my heart as I’ve witnessed the power of music first hand. I’ve seen how music connects with people all over the world in a way that nothing else can so when I heard that Nordoff Robbins were taking their annual carol service online, I jumped at the chance to host the event and to bring along some of my closest musical friends to help spread some Christmas cheer.”

The veteran hit-maker added “I know how hard this year has been for everyone, in particular charities. Because of the pandemic, Nordoff Robbins are expecting to lose much of their fundraising income. This means they are able to help less people, including children with autism who rely on music therapy for a sense of connection or those affected by life-limiting illnesses or disability – even though their services are needed now more than ever.“

This year has not been an easy one. However, it has certainly underlined the importance of music and the role it has to play to unite us, heal us and make the hard times more bearable.

These are our favourite albums for 2020 x#RTTop100https://t.co/wxjLOSljGa

— Rough Trade (@RoughTrade) November 10, 2020

Precious little is known about Sault’s origins and make-up other than a handful of credited guest appearances; including Mercury Prize winner Michael Kiwanuka and Laurette Josiah on Untitled (Black Is). What is certain is that they are a prolific bunch. The Guardian highlighted this neatly in their review of Untitled (Rise), the September successor to Black Is.

They wrote: “Sault seem to use the time they save by not promoting their albums or engaging with the public profitably. ‘Untitled (Rise)’ is not only their fourth album in 18 months, it’s their second double album in just over 12 weeks. It’s a work rate that would seem remarkable at any point in pop history, but feels positively astonishing today, compounded by the fact that its predecessor gave the impression of having been largely written and recorded in response to the murder of George Floyd, less than a month before it was released.”

British-Japanese singer-songwriter Rina Sawayama comes in third on the Rough Trade list with her first full studio album Sawayama, which the label describe as “a giant megazord of monster pop, built to defeat the drab mundanity destroying our lives“. In a statement shared by Pitchfork earlier this year, the London-based artist described the album as “…about understanding yourself in the context of two opposing cultures (for me British and Japanese), what “belonging” means when home is an evolving concept, figuring out where you sit comfortably within and awkwardly outside of stereotypes, and ultimately trying to be ok with just being you, warts and all.”

Also featuring in the Rough Trade top 5 are Laura Marling’s seventh album Song For Our Daughter, which Rough Trade describe as the folk singer’s “most tranquil, clear and idyllic to date“; and Beyond The Pale, the debut LP from Jarvis Cocker’s latest musical incarnation Jarv Is… In the absence of live shows, the Pulp frontman recently announced a cinematic tour of the new record which is scheduled to begin next week.

The other UK-based acts featuring in the top 10 spots in Rough Trade’s list are Anglo-Icelandic punk-pop trio Dream Wife with their sophomore album So When You Gonna…; Geordie Rockers Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (aka Pigs x7) with their third record Visceral; Hull ‘gothic shoegaze’ merchants Bdrmm with Bedroom; and Brighton quartet Porridge Radio with Every Bad, which Rough Trade praise for its “searing riffs and melodic incantations“.

Elsewhere there are nods in the Top 100 for Manic Street Preachers frontman and guitar hero James Dean Bradfield; Leicester indie-pop veterans Cornershop; Wembley-born Hollywood star and hip-hop artist Riz Ahmed; and Welsh electronicsongstress Kelly Lee Owens. The full list of Rough Trade’s Albums Of The Year 2020 (from 100-1) is as follows:

100 – Caleb Landry Jones – Mother Stone
99 – Yumi Zouma – Truth or Consequences
98 – Caroline Rose – Superstar
97 – Keeley Forsyth – Debris
96 – Monophonics – It’s Only Us
95 – Pinegrove – Marigold
94 – Khruangbin – Mordechai
93 – Rival Consoles – Articulation
92 – Clipping – Visions of Bodies Being Burned
91 – Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension
90 – Destroyer – Have We Met
89 – Adrienne Lenker – Songs and Instrumentals
88 – Chats – High Risk Behaviour
87 – Bob Dylan – Rough And Rowdy Ways
86 – Denzel Curry x Kenny Beats – Unlocked
85 – Wire – Mind Hive
84 – Bent – Up In The Air
83 – Chuck Prophet – The Land That Time Forgot
82 – X – Alphabetland
81 – Slow Pulp – Moveys
80 – Bonny Light Horseman – Bonny Light Horseman
79 – Rudy De Anda – Tender Epoch
78 – Jason Isbell – Reunions
77 – Grimes – Miss Anthropocene
76 – Public Practice – Gentle Grip
75 – Disq – Collector
74 – Bambara – Stray
73 – Dan Michaelson – Colourfield
72 – Riz Ahmed – The Long Goodbye
71 – Cherry Pickles – The Juice That’s Worth The Squeeze
70 – The Nude Party – Midnight Manor
69 – Action Bronson – Only For Dolphins
68 – Field Music – Making A New World
67 – Bananagun – The True Story Of
66 – James Dean Bradfield – Even In Exile
65 – Max Richter – Voices
64 – Fiona Apple – Fetch The Bolt Cutters
63 – BC Camplight – Shortly After Takeoff
62 – Sneaks – Happy Birthday
61 – Video Age – Pleasure Line
60 – Everything Is Recorded – Friday Forever
59 – Mark Lanegan - Straight Songs Of Sorrow
58 – Nicolas Jaar – Cenizas
57 – Ghostpoet – I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep
56 – Thundercat – It Is What It Is
55 – Chicano Batman – Invisible People
54 – King Krule – Man Alive
53 – Habibi – Anywhere But Here
52 – Agnes Obel – Myopia
51 – Freddie Gibbs & Alchemist – Alfredo
50 – Nick Hakim – WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD
49 – Jessy Lanza – All The Time
48 – Bob Mould – Blue Hearts
47 – Aqulies Navarro + Tcheser Holmes – Heritage of the Invisible II
46 – Dehd – Flower of Devotion
45 – Pole – Fading
44 – Shopping – All Or Nothing
43 – Mush – 3D Routine
42 – Heliocentrics – Infinity of Now
41 – Romare – Home
40 – Yaeji – What We Drew
39 – Damaged Bug – Bug On Yonkers
38 – Big Moon – Walking Like We Do
37 – Olafur Arnalds – some kind of peace
36 – Nation Of Language – Introduction, Presence
35 – Margo Price – That’s How Rumours Get Started
34 – Keleketla! – Keleketla!
33 – Coriky – Coriky
32 – Slift – Ummon
31 – A Certain Ratio – Loco
30 – Four Tet – Sixteen Oceans
29 – Courtney Marie Andrews – Old Flowers
28 – Kelly Lee Owens – Inner Song
27 – Brigid Mae Power – Head Above Water
26 – Isobel Campbell – There Is No Other
25 – Run The Jewels – RTJ4
24 – Georgia – Seeking Thrills
23 – Fontaines D.C. – A Hero’s Death
22 – Beths – Jump Rope Gazers
21 – Yves Tumour – Heaven To A Tortured Mind
20 – Hazel English – Wake Up
19 – Kamaal Williams – Wu Hen
18 – Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud
17 – Thurston Moore – By The Fire
16 – Tom Misch / Yuseff Dayes – What Kinda Music
15 – Caribou – Suddenly
14 – Idles – Ultra Mono
13 – Osees – Protean Threat
12 – Oklou – Galore
11 – Cornershop – England Is A Garden
10 – Rolling Blackouts – Sideways To New Italy
9 – Porridge Radio – Every Bad
8 – bdrmm – Bedroom
7 – Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Viscerals
6 – Dream Wife – So When You Gonna…
5 – Jarv Is – Beyond The Pale
4 – Laura Marling – Song For Our Daughter
3 – Rina Sawayama – Sawayama
2 – Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
1 – Sault – Untitled (Black Is)

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions for the live music industry, the Manics have moved their previously announced shows in December at the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena to Fri 16th & Sat 17th July 2021. All tickets remain valid.

More info: https://t.co/s5HVozPG4c pic.twitter.com/3tYIRMFutk

— ManicStreetPreachers (@Manics) October 14, 2020

The rescheduled July performances could now coincide with the release of the Blackwood rockers’ as-yet-unnamed fourteenth studio album, set for release on a date to be confirmed next summer. Earlier this year bassist Nicky Wire hinted that the new record would move in a different musical direction to 2018’s Resistance Is Futile, telling NME that: “It’s very broad – it feels like an expansive record. Resistance Is Futile certainly felt more tight and ‘pop’ in a Manics sense. Everything was really melodic and concise. This album just feels broader. It’s got a wider landscape, sonically.”

Manics’ singer and lead guitarist James Dean Bradfield has also been busy this year promoting his critically-acclaimed summer solo release Even in Exile, inspired by the life of the murdered Chilean musician and activist Victor Jara. The album, which reached number 6 in the UK charts in August, was also accompanied by a three-part podcast series, Inspired By Jara.

The Manics had already anticipated the likelihood of needing to rearrange the NHS gigs, with James Dean Bradfield telling NME in the summer that the Gwent trio would “play those gigs, eventually, whatever happens.” In the same interview the multi-talented frontman spoke of the band’s desire to give back to the NHS, whose creator Aneurin Bevan famously inspired the title of their classic 1998 album This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours.

Bradfield said “We just saw the struggle. I know a lot of people around me who work for the NHS and you could see the immediate strain that they were all under. We’re talking about proper stress from proper hard work that you’d never ever begin to realise how hard it is. They’re under immense strain. The NHS is the biggest employer in Wales, and all around us we saw people giving and giving and giving and not getting enough back. We just thought that this should be for them.”

2021 will also mark the 20th anniversary of the band’s Gold-certified 2001 album Know Your Enemy, and the subsequent Louder Than War gigs in Havana which saw them become the first western rock band to play in Cuba. Fans might expect some of the album’s most enduring songs – including singles So Why So Sad, Ocean Spray and Let Robeson Sing – to feature on Manics’ set lists next year.