Anneke van Giersbergen's final appearance with The Gathering will take place on August 4 at the Ankkarock Festival in Finland, the singer announced. Afterwards she'll devote completely to her new project, Agua de Annique.

Actually, it turns out that Anneke's been working on the songs for Agua de Annique's debut album, due to be called "Air" and scheduled for release during the autumn, for the last six months. Recordings have taken place in various studios in the vocalist's homeland, Holland.

Agua de Annique's line-up features Anneke van Giersbergen (voice and piano), Joris Dirks (guitar and vocals), Jacques de Haard (bass) and Rob Snijders (drums). Guest musicians on some of the tracks on "Air" include Kristin Fjellseth (additional vocals), Heleen de Witte (flute) and Timothy Conroy (trumpet).