The Anchoress

ART ROCK UP-AND-COMER

What music are you currently grooving to?

On repeat at the moment are Billy Nomates’ Emergency Telephone EP – which is pure groove and growl – and Hannah Peel’s recent Fir Wave album, which is like a holiday for your brain, channelling Delia Derbyshire.

What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album?

If I have to pick one at gunpoint, Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love is still a beacon of perfection for me. I still hold it up as the bar I’m trying to reach, so each and every review of my album that mentions her name makes me grin a little bit more.

What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?

It was Prince’s ‘symbol’ album from HMV in Oxford when CDs were still really expensive, and it took me months to save up. I got the bus over there with some friends without telling my Mum. She was pretty cross. I still have the CD and play it all the time.

Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be?

I don’t think I have, because so many of the musicians I looked up to were men. There are lots of people whose careers I admire, of course – David Bowie, Björk, Kate Bush, Scott Walker. But I’d like to just do me.

What do you sing in the shower? Nope! Only if I’m warming up to go on stage. I sing more in my head than out loud. I tend to save it for the studio.

What is your favourite Saturday night record?

1975 – I Like It When You Sleep…

I haven’t been as excited about a band since the Manic Street Preachers.

And your Sunday morning record? BBC 6Music, or something like Nico’s Desert Shore or Scott 3 by Scott Walker to ease myself into the melancholia of another week beginning.

“Kate Bush – a beacon of perfection.” THE ANCHORESS