Siouxsie Sioux might be well known as an 80s goth icon thanks to her work with Siouxsie and the Banshees, but few remember the work she did afterwards with her side-project The Creatures. Anima Animus is the third album from this project, released exactly 20 years ago today.

The Creatures - Anima AnimusThe Creatures - Anima Animus

Siouxsie and the Banshees were still going strong by the time Siouxsie formed The Creatures with her drummer (and later husband) Budgie, but Anima Animus was released four years after the iconic goth group disbanded, and ten years after The Creatures' second record Boomerang.

It was also the first on their own label Sioux Records, after all other major labels rejected them for having a sound that they didn't deem commercially viable. Despite this, the album was critically acclaimed for its seductive vocal and hypnotic beats, and was once named one of PJ Harvey's top ten albums of 1999 (interestingly, Siouxsie was compared to PJ by critics on much of this record). 

Produced by Warne Livesey (Midnight Oil, The The) and Steve Levine (Culture Club), the singles from the album were 2nd Floor, Say and Prettiest Thing. Say is perhaps the most poignant; having been written in tribute to Billy Mackenzie of Associates who committed suicide two years earlier. The record also featured a collaboration with Juno Reactor, who mixed Exterminating Angel.

The album name refers to the Jungian theory of "The Man Inside The Woman and The Woman Inside The Man"; which essentially means that we all have both a feminine and a masculine side. It's fitting for the kind of synergy we see between Siouxsie and Budgie throughout the record.

More: Last week's album of the week was 3 Doors Down - The Better Life

While Anima Animus may not be the most mainstream of records that we have celebrated for our Album of the Week series, we certainly believe it's a great example of an icon refusing to commercialise their sound for the sake of fame and profit.