Released on 21 May 2001, Anoraknophobia is Marillion’s twelfth studio album, again produced by Dave Meegan and released through Racket Records. Like its predecessor, it was funded in advance by the band’s fanbase — an approach that was now becoming the Marillion model rather than a one-off experiment.

The album is notably warmer and more melodically open than either Radiation or its direct predecessor. Tracks like “Quartz”, “Separated Out”, and “This is the 21st Century” — the latter featuring a Rothery guitar solo widely regarded as one of his finest on record — demonstrate a band writing with relaxed confidence, comfortable in their creative identity and no longer feeling pressure to justify themselves commercially.

Hogarth’s lyrics engage with themes of disconnection and digital anxiety in ways that feel prescient given the social media landscape that would emerge in the following decade. “If My Heart Were a Ball It Would Roll Uphill” is one of the more emotionally direct songs in the band’s catalogue, and its plainness of expression — unusual for Marillion — gives it considerable power.

The album’s title is a playful nod to the band’s exceptionally dedicated fanbase — the so-called “anorak” supporters who had made the band’s independent model possible. It remains a fan favourite and a thoroughly enjoyable, occasionally underappreciated record in the broader Marillion story.