Listen to The Anchoress' elegant version of Manic Street Preachers' This Is Yesterday

The Anchoress, aka Catherine Anne Davis in a black jacket standing against a grey backdrop

(Image credit: Darren Feist)

The Anchoress has released a stunning reworking of Manic Street Preachers' This Is Yesterday via Bandcamp – stream it below. It follows her appearance at Glastonbury Festival 2023, where she joined the Manics onstage for two tracks.

“It was a pretty tall order to choose a Manics song to reimagine but I settled on the majestic This Is Yesterday from The Holy Bible, reworked here in collaboration with the talented Charlie Cawood [Knifeworld/Mediaeval Baebes] and my now overflowing collection of vintage synths," The Anchoress (aka Catherine Anne Davis) reveals. "Of course, you can’t improve upon the original, but I hope this version captures some of my own bittersweet nostalgia for the purity of childhood that the song effortlessly evokes.”

Her version of This Is Yesterday – which features her Fairlight, Mellotron, piano and Solina synth – is taken from on the new covers album, Versions, due out this autumn. Also included are her renditions of songs originally by Nico, All About Eve, The Cure and New Order. Her previous studio record, The Art Of Losing, was voted Album Of The Year in 2021 by Prog writers.

The Anchoress heads back on the road this autumn with an extra show confirmed at London's Union Chapel. Scroll down for the full list of confirmed dates so far.

The Anchoress 2023 Autumn Dates

Sep 02: BLANDFORD, End Of The Road Festival
Sep 21: LIVERPOOL, Leaf
Sep 22: EDINBURGH, Summerhall
Sep 23: HULL, Central Library
Sep 24: LEEDS, Brudenell Social Club
Sep 30: CARDIFF, Acapella – SOLD OUT
Oct 04: CAMBRIDGE, Junction
Oct 06: LONDON, UNION CHAPEL

Contributing to Prog since the very first issue, writer and broadcaster Natasha Scharf was the magazine’s News Editor before she took up her current role of Deputy Editor, and has interviewed some of the best-known acts in the progressive music world from ELP, Yes and Marillion to Nightwish, Dream Theater and TesseracT. Starting young, she set up her first music fanzine in the late 80s and became a regular contributor to local newspapers and magazines over the next decade. The 00s would see her running the dark music magazine, Meltdown, as well as contributing to Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Terrorizer and Artrocker. Author of music subculture books The Art Of Gothic and Worldwide Gothic, she’s since written album sleeve notes for Cherry Red, and also co-wrote Tarja Turunen’s memoirs, Singing In My Blood. Beyond the written word, Natasha has spent several decades as a club DJ, spinning tunes at aftershow parties for Metallica, Motörhead and Nine Inch Nails. She’s currently the only member of the Prog team to have appeared on the magazine’s cover.