Esteemed producer, musician and songwriter Bernard Butler, together with multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and author Catherine Anne Davies (aka The Anchoress), have today released their new album, In Memory of My Feelings.

Although four years lapsed between its conception and completion, In Memory Of My Feelings was written and recorded by Catherine and Bernard over a period of just 15 days. It has now been released on Needle Mythology; the label founded by music writer, author and broadcaster Pete Paphides and is the very first release of brand new music on the label. From the brooding single The Breakdown and the emphatic guitar-driven Sabotage (Looks So Easy), to the radio-friendly ballad I Know and Ten Good Reasons, described by Catherine as "a celebration of the age-old battle between heart and mind”, In Memory of My Feelings is a splendid showcase of both artists' immense talents and making music for the sheer joy.

The release has been critically lauded, with MOJO’s four-star review stating: “In Memory of My Feelings is an often terrific record with the unexpected arrangement, Butler's feral guitar and Davies’s perfection diction distinguishing the theatrical I Know, the lacerating stomp of Sabotage (Looks So Easy), and the muscular church of Judas. All this, and a spare, newly recorded cover of Madonna’s Live To Tell."

We were delighted that Bernard and Catherine completed the project at Abbey Road Studios where it was mastered by our senior mastering engineer, Sean Magee. We recently caught up with Bernard who explained why he chose to have the record mastered with Sean:

“I have been mastering records at Abbey Road for years from Frank Arkwright back to the lovely Chris Blair years ago. Sean Magee was suggested this time and since we were in lockdown I was unable to attend. This works out better for me usually with mastering. Though we all love to brush past the tourists at the zebra crossing, with mastering I need to avoid ‘posh speaker’ syndrome and make a true judgement. Communication is always so important in mastering – I have had fretful experiences where an engineer assumed I would like my music to sound like it has been fried and FM baked several times."

"The record I have made with Catherine Anne Davies was a slow process. Having been lost and passed over for many years we had assumed it would never be heard. It was not until Pete Paphides heard it by accident that he was the first person to declare it fit for his label Needle Mythology. Everything Pete releases is carefully selected on merit and so this was quite a shock actually! With no time scale, I could revisit mixes that had been left for two years and tweak the fine detail at my own pace. It felt like the record already sounded pretty good and so it was just a case of getting Sean’s take on it.

Sean reported back what you always dream of hearing as a producer: “I didn’t have to do much”. Phew. Actually, that was quite a lot for Sean to do. Along with bringing a subtle spatial depth and tonal balance across the record, Sean chose not to do “too much” and that ability to choose not to impose yourself on a record at the last minute just for the sake of it is the great call of all the best engineers. Sean returned the record I wanted to hear and that is ‘job done’."

SIDE 1

1. The Breakdown
2. Ten Good Reasons
3. Sabotage (Looks So Easy)
4. In Memory Of My Feelings
5. I Know

SIDE 2

1. Judas
2. No More Tears To Dry
3. The Waiting Game
4. The Patron Saint Of The Lost Cause
5. F.O.H.

DISC 2

SIDE A

1. Live To Tell

SIDE B

1. The Patron Saint Of The Lost Cause (Harmonium Version)

The record is now available to purchase here.