The Anchoress was lauded in 2016 by the broadsheet press for her “compelling” (The Observer) and “fascinating” (Sunday Times) debut album, which she co-produced with Mansun’s Paul Draper; gracing the covers of MOJO magazines and the Guardian reviews section, as well as receiving coverage online from The Quietus, Drowned in Sound, The Line of Best Fit, Q, Gigwise, NPR and more. Garnering comparisons to John Grant, Lana Del Rey and Kate Bush, Catherine’s previous singles have received heavy rotation of BBC 6Music and Radio X, as well as recently recording a special BBC Maida Vale session. HMV have awared the album as the best Welsh album of the year, Gigwise have listed the album as one of the best of 2016, Prog honoured her as the best newcomer of 2016 (Limelight Award) and she has released a special expanded edition of the album. The expanded edition of Confessions of a Romance Novelist features five new acoustic versions including the singles “What Goes Around”, “Popular” and “Bury Me”. Featuring string arrangements from Gillian Wood and a guest vocal from Paul Draper, as well as a solo piano rendition of the Simple Minds classic track ‘Rivers of Ice’, the acoustic versions are able to download as a lone Kitchen Sessions EP as an addition to the original Confessions of a Romance Novelist album. Catherine spent much of 2015 touring the arenas of Europe and the UK playing with Simple Minds to over 500,000 people, plus millions of Americans when she performed at the Billboard Awards in Las Vegas
