Rosalie Cunningham emerges from the shade of the shadows for a new set that channels an outpouring of cinematic motifs.

Release Date: 1st November 2024

Label: Esoteric Records

Format: digital / CD / LP

new styles

She’s quite chilled about exploring new styles is Rosalie. After reading her comments in PROG magazine, relating self doubts over feeling the need to prove herself on her first solo album and the covid related experience that resulted in Two Piece Puzzle, her harshest critic gets reined in.

The heavier sound of the live band also takes a backseat on the latest set of songs which she’s equated to scenes from her own little play. Indeed Timothy Martin’s Conditioning School in name and sound wouldn’t be out of place next to scenes from another famous play that featured Lovely Rita, or be a partner to Mr Kite. Another individual to join Donovan Ellington to add to the growing list of Cunningham caricatures.

blockbuster

Yes there’s a bit of a Bond style blockbuster thing going on. The heart worn proudly on flared sleeve, not least of which is made perfectly clear in the the title track, and not least in the opening ten seconds or so. “I wear a briefcase and tie and I feel like a spy,” she croons as the guitars provide a variation on an iconic cinematic score.

Following in the same vein at the back end of the album is the Mariachi/Morricone (check some distant tolling tubular bells) styled The Premiere that showcases an elegant drama and In The Shade Of The Shadows leads as the big production number. Saturated in smoky cabaret sleaze, all deep red and crushed velvet, the piano and sax, it adds to the beautifully retro vibe that oozes out of Heavy Pencil. All Simon Templar and Jason King, great bass work on the latter which has over a short time, earned the status of ‘favorite track’.

In the meantime, she’s endorsing how it’s good to be damned in the song of the same name. “In the company of a demon man, it feels good to be damned” she claims, accompanying the mood change with a Devil may care nonchalance. And am I the only one who detects a bit of a Band On The Run riff creeping in?

a hint of nostalgia

The influences of Fred, Queen and the fab four are still in there with shrill harmonies and quirky Olde Englishe tea dance opportunities. Check out Stepped Out Of Time for a lovely piano led pastiche-y piece of nostalgia. Of course, there are occasional crossovers from the read, learned, marked and inwardly digested roots of heavier Psychedelic Rock, of which we are informed will be back in abundance in the live arena come the return to the stage in the not too distant future. The odd little interlude of The Smut Peddler and the seasonally apt, just missing the evil cackle, Spook Racket might be in line to give the trick or treaters a blast for their own little ‘treat’.

very vogue

At the back end of the album, CD buyers catch up on Return Of The Ellington (you can’t keep a good man down) and Home, which of course, us vinyl addicts have already purchased, nay captured, on a coloured (and signed if you were quick) 7″ souvenir.

Bottom line – To Shoot Another Day adds to the Cunningham legacy, showing a side that’s very vogue. Madonna eat your heart out and buy into what Rosalie once called “f**king strange Pop“

Here’s In The Shade Of The Shadows:

Rosalie Cunningham online: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Youtube

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