Cavanagh's solo career was an outlet for his more low-key acoustic material that did not fit with Anathema's style. His debut solo album, 2004's A Place to Be, consisted solely of covers of Nick Drake songs. In 2009 he released In Parallel, a collaboration with the Gathering singer Anneke van Giersbergen, who had guested with Anathema. In 2005 Cavanagh gave up drink and drugs and devoted himself to a more spiritual lifestyle. His seeking led him to American Joseph Geraci, whose recollection of his famous 1977 near-death experience Cavanagh discovered on a YouTube video and sampled for Anathema's track "Internal Landscapes" on their 2012 album, Weather Systems. Contacting Geraci, Cavanagh discovered he had written an abundance of poetry about his experience, and asked if he would like to collaborate. The result was 2013's The Passage, which saw the then-71-year-old Geraci reciting his poetry over Cavanagh's gentle, contemplative backing. In 2015, the self-released low-key Memory and Meaning was another selection of cover versions. Cavanagh's highest-profile solo album to date was 2017's Monochrome. Led by the haunting single "The Exorcist," it featured guest appearances from van Giersbergen, Ayreon's Arjen Lucassen, and violinist Anna Phoebe, another Anathema collaborator. ~ John D. Buchanan, Rovi