Rosalie Cunningham – To Shoot Another Day
Rosalie Cunningham – To Shoot Another Day
Cherry Red Records
Release Date: 01/11/24
Running Time: 51:20
Review by Dark Juan
999,999,999/10
Now, there are few artists who Dark Juan can claim are a formative influence on his musical journey and the ones that do run the gamut from the Proto-Industrial of Cromagnon, the Power Electronics of Whitehouse, the Satanic Psychedelia of Coven all the way through to the most extreme Gabba Techno of Ultraviolence and the sheer destructive potential of The Berzerker and The Machinist. However, Dark Juan has always had a soft spot for the Psychedelia of the late 60s and early 70s as well as the heaviest of Metal, and therefore the likes of Red Spektor, Obsidian Sun and Lucid Sins are vital records in my collection, as much as Lawnmower Deth or Cold In Berlin or whoever.
One of the bands who (like Blood Ceremony) were esoteric and whimsical enough to whet the appetite of Dark Juan at the less heavy end of the spectrum were British Psychedelic Rockers Purson, fronted by the all-round fabulous Rosalie Cunningham. The music of that band, as well as the velvet flares and dramatic eye makeup image of Rosalie herself, turned Dark Juan into an acolyte at first listen (I believe it was ‘Sapphire Ward’) and it is with considerable excitement, therefore, that Dark Juan has released the Platter of Splatter ™ from confinement and has reverently placed “To Shoot Another Day”, the latest solo release from Rosalie Cunningham, upon it for critical analysis.
Full disclaimer here for reasons that will become obvious – Dark Juan is a colossal and everlasting fan of Cunningham and her music wherever it may take us. Her influences are manifold and take as much from Lounge Jazz and saccharine Pop music as they do from classic Psychedelia and Metal. Her refusal to conform to any genre or style of music, and her cinematic lyrics, her storytelling prowess, speak to Dark Juan’s soul, as does her playing of the guitar and her pure, soaring vocals, and on this new album you should be prepared to accept the legacy and influence of the Beatles at their most drug-addled as you should to the likes of Church Of The Cosmic Skull and King Crimson and the scuzziest of 70s Pub Rock and the fuzziest Proto-Metal. In short, a whirlwind of whimsy, and a kaleidoscope of sound awaits you…
The music and lyrics drip with humour and sarcasm as well as being able to rock out with the best of them – ‘Good To Be Damned’ rattles along over a honky-tonk piano line, whereas ‘Timothy Martin’s Conditioning School’ pops and fizzes over a Progressive Rock backbeat and unusual time signature and break but is also totally accessible and very easy to listen to.
If fact, it is as well to say that this album doesn’t merely represent the music Cunningham is recording at the moment, as an endless and chimeric evolution of her playing and development as a solo artist – ‘In The Shade Of The Shadows’ has some of the filthiest, sexiest sax I have ever heard (and I love Tim Capello) as Rosalie opens her mouth and lets fly from throaty to almost Soprano on the vocal, demonstrating a superb range. Her songwriting and arrangements are also simply magnificent – ‘The Smut Peddler’ takes a Metal guitar sound into the realms of 70s Hammond Organ heaven and tinkling, bright Psychedelia before ‘Denim Eyes’ floats on a diaphanous cloud of piano-led cotton-candy Pop that would not be out of place in the late 60s, back when Pop music was fucking brilliant – you could easily see The Carpenters singing this, if the lyrics weren’t so quintessentially British and tongue-in-cheek.
Everything on the production of this album is absolutely fucking perfect – while Rosalie’s voice is rightly front and centre of every song she sings on, she doesn’t overpower the music and the whole shebang is reminiscent of the Phil Spector wall of sound – in fact there are times when the production reminds me of 70s Rod Stewart records and obscure John Kongos singles cribbed from my Dad’s single collection when I was a teen. The instruments are all crystal clear and easily defined within the sound as a whole regardless of how much is going on, and that is a minor miracle considering Cunningham has got her dirty little mitts on everything from Hammond Organs to marimbas and fuck knows what else and flung it into the smorgasbord of sound she presents us with – there’s even a fucking xylophone in parts on ‘Spook Racket’! Which is not something I would have expected to say on one of the rockier tunes on the album, but of course, in typical Rosalie Cunningham fashion, she can’t leave it alone and the middle of the song is Gothic Psychedelic Rock – Hawkwind has nothing on the esoteric aspects of this piece of music. And then she decides to end the song with some pastoral, almost Folk-Rock acoustic guitar. There is absolutely no way in which you can tell where Cunningham is taking her amorphous, constantly changing music next.
Is it really Metal, though? This is a question that constantly vexes me when I write reviews of records that have Metal as a component, rather than the be all and end all of the music. To that end, I should say that it is not Metal, particularly, but her use of the guitar and a lot of Rock arrangements in her music just edges it into the territory of fans of less heavy, more inventive music that borders on Metal. However, fans of rage and power above all else might find the tongue-in-cheek humour, the sheer refusal to compartmentalize the music and Rosalie’s deeply unique, troubadour, storytelling lyrics and her warm, smoky, intimate vocals not to their taste.
This all just confirms that Rosalie Cunningham is a one-of-a-kind, sublime musical genius in the eyes of Dark Juan and that her attitude towards music is Metal as fuck as it refuses to comply with the categorization of anyone. This album and its melding of everything from Metal to Jazz, from Folk to Pub Rock, from Goth to Bubblegum Pop makes it a truly unique musical experience and one to be treasured deeply, as it shows the development of a talent from frontwoman of a Psychedelic Rock band into a musical polymath solely in control of their own destiny and I say now that it’s a fucking journey I want to be on! Even if the purists will fucking hate it. I deeply love it.
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System awards Rosalie Cunningham 999,999,999/10 for a record that isn’t so much music as absolute fucking magic from start to finish.
TRACKLISTING:
01. To Shoot Another Day
02. Timothy Martin’s Conditioning School
03. Heavy Pencil
04. Good To Be Damned
05. In The Shade Of The Shadows
06. The Smut Peddler
07. Denim Eyes
08. Spook Racket
09. Stepped Out Of Time
10. The Premiere
Bonus Tracks:
11. Return Of The Ellington
12. Home
LINE-UP:
Rosalie Cunningham – Songwriter, producer, vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards & percussion
Rosco Wilson – Co-producer, co-writer of tracks 4, 5, 8 &10, guitar, drums on 6, additional drums on 7
SUPPORTING CAST:
Raphael Mura – Drums
David Woodcock – Piano on 1, 4, 5, 7 & 9, hammond on 4
Ian East – Flute, clarinet and sax on 3, sax on 5
Itamar Rubinger – Drums on 1
Barkley Woodcock – Bark on 7
LINKS:
