ART-ROCK
Chris Roberts samples the new releases on the prog/rock boundary.
Words are very unnecessary, according to the gospel of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy The Silence, but on The Anchoress’ Versions (Drowned In Sound) it’s clear that lyrics as much as tunes have influenced her choice of interpretations. Cover albums can be an act of water-treading, but Catherine Anne Davies has put much thought and feeling into these (mostly) well-known songs, with arrangements and vocals which explore the core rather than the surface of them. The Mode classic becomes a symphony of synths, emoted with an intensity, which is the polar opposite of the renditions common in cloying John Lewis ads. Radiohead’s Climbing Up The Walls, New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle and All About Eve’s Martha’s Harbour are also read with oratorical power, but perhaps the most affecting moment is the Jackson Browne/Nico elegy These Days, which catches the sweet-sorrowful interface of The Carpenters.