Watch The Anchoress pay homage to Depeche Mode on new cover of ‘Enjoy The Silence’
The Anchoress, aka Catherine Anne Davies, has paid homage to Depeche Mode in her stripped-back new cover of ‘Enjoy The Silence’ – watch the video on NME first below.
The cover is the latest from Davies’ new album, ‘Versions’, released today (October 6) – a project that has seen her re-imagine ten songs by artists including Manic Street Preachers, The Cure, Nirvana, Nico and Halsey.
The latest cover is accompanied by a video directed by JJ Eringa and is a scene-by-scene recreation of the original video released by Depeche Mode in 1990 and created by Anton Corbijn.
Speaking to NME about the new song and video, Davies said: “The concept behind the album was for me to flex my production and arrangement skills and revisit classic songs to challenge the listener to think about them in a new way, so when JJ suggested to me that we attempted a loving frame by frame recreation of the original video for Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy The Silence’ it seemed like the perfect fit for the intentions of the project.
“The original video had a much more impressive travel budget than we had but with the ingenuity of director JJ Eringa…we were able to pretty much approximate every shot from Anton Corbijn’s original video. Half was shot on a DIY green screen in my manager’s living room while the other half was shot guerilla style around the local countryside. I might have gotten a few strange looks as I pranced around in a full velvet robe and crown all day!”
Eringa added: “For years, I’ve loved the idea of doing a cover version of a music video. The release of ‘Versions’ seemed like the perfect time to finally take a leaf out of Catherine’s book and make my own attempt at reworking a classic. Anton Corbijn’s original video for ‘Enjoy the Silence’ is utterly iconic and though deceptively simple, completely captivating.”
The album, which has also been produced and mixed by Davies, will appear on limited edition vinyl and CD via Drowned in Sound Records. The vinyl for the project has been pressed on Eco-Mix vinyl and you can order here.
Speaking about the eco-friendly vinyl, Davies added: “Each record pressed will be a completely unique combination, reworked from leftover wax pellets which feels very apt for the concept of the album, as well as being a more eco-friendly method of production. I love the idea that, like the collection of songs being pieces of other people’s imaginations, this record is quite literally made up of unused parts of other records.”
The ‘Versions’ tracklisting is:
‘Enjoy The Silence’ (Depeche Mode)
‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ (New Order)
‘Climbing Up The Walls’ (Radiohead)
‘Friday I’m In Love’ (The Cure)
‘Pennyroyal Tea’ (Nirvana)
‘These Days’ (Nico)
‘Martha’s Harbour’ (All About Eve)
‘The Tradition’ (Halsey)
‘This Is Yesterday’ (Manic Street Preachers)
‘Sweetness Follows’ (R.E.M.)
Davies’ ‘Versions’ project began life when she released several covers as part of ‘Bandcamp Friday’.
Speaking to NME about that earlier this year, Davies said: “Whenever I’ve done covers, the criteria has always been: is this a great song, and is there something new or different I can bring to it? I’ve tried to re-imagine them in a very different way to the original.”
Earlier this year, Davies performed with frequent collaborators Manic Street Preachers at Glastonbury for renditions of ‘Your Love Alone Is Not Enough’ and ‘This Is Yesterday’.
The post Watch The Anchoress pay homage to Depeche Mode on new cover of ‘Enjoy The Silence’ appeared first on NME.
Elizabeth Aubrey
NME
