Rosalie Cunningham’s psych-infused third solo album, To Shoot Another Day, is a reminder of what makes her so special. She tells Prog about the joys of DIY recording, her passion for Bond soundtracks and the anticlimax of releasing records today
“I can do whatever the fuck I like – it’s my album,” declares Rosalie Cunningham, explaining the outlook that inspired the title track of new album To Shoot Another Day. On the cover she stares through the viewfinder of a vintage camera; it’s her way of “breaking the fourth wall,” she says.
“On that song I’m talking about the process of making an album, but through the lens of making a film, where I can be anything in my own screenplay. That’s the way I wanted to open my album. The verses, which are like script notes, describe the scene, and essentially say, ‘This is my work, and I can do what I want.’”
It’s a statement Cunningham hasn’t always been fully comfortable embracing. It’s five years since the release of her self-titled solo debut, her first full release since she’d disbanded Purson in 2017. It was was testament to the fact that she had been, and remains, the driving component behind her endeavours. “Not everybody knew that I was the creative force behind Purson,” she says. “So with my first album I felt that I had to throw everything at it to prove that I could do it all.”
The follow-up, Two Piece Puzzle, saw her ramp up the theatrics; but since it was released during the pandemic she had “tentative” feelings about its reception. Perhaps third time’s the charm? To Shoot Another Day finds Cunningham unencumbered by her previous constraints; and it’s also the first release she’s recorded and mixed entirely at her home studio in Southend-on-Sea.
“There were incredibly extensive, long days,” she says. “I get into a hyper-focus at night; I kind of forget to drink water or go to the toilet and just go deep. It’s a blessing and a curse having a home studio, because there’s no clock to tell you to stop.”
Though tempted to retire to a more traditional recording environment, she powered through with the support of partner and guitarist Roscoe Wilson. “I actually think it’s the best-sounding album I’ve done. I’ve spent thousands in studios in the past and not got the same results – and this time I’ve been a hell of a lot more relaxed. I’m still enjoying listening to it, which is insane for me. Normally I can’t listen to a thing I’ve done until about five years later. So that, to me is, a really good sign.”
The level of attention she’s paid shows in her unshrinking journeys into different musical territories, expanding from psychedelic prog to unexpected moments of frisky lounge jazz (as heard on Heavy Pencil – with clarinet and saxophone contributions from Gong’s Ian East – and In The Shade Of The Shadows), fuzzy psych metal (Spook Racket) and poppier melodies (Denim Eyes and Stepped Out Of Time). To Shoot Another Day is her most diverse release to date; although she insists it has nothing to do with a change in musical taste.
“It’s just a progression of me as an artist,” she says, noting her continued devotion to Pink Floyd, Genesis and King Crimson. “It’s more to do with exploring genres that I was too scared to indulge in. Maybe I thought they were too predictable or too cheesy – now I’ve let go. Now there’s some really pop elements there, and there’s some bluesy elements, is definitely my partner’s influence.”
Releasing an album, you’re just sitting there in your pyjamas, like, ‘Wow, it’s premiering all over the world!’
Wilson co-wrote some of the songs and also helped the album’s direction to evolve thematically, based on the couple’s shared love for James Bond soundtracks; both were obsessed with the spy movies as children.
“It’s just a genre of music that’s always seduced me,” Cunningham says. “I find the whole vibe fascinating, so I’ve had a very natural inclination for it. I’m dramatic with my own music, so it kind of fits.” She adds: “I’m trying to coin the phrase ‘spy-chedelic rock’ – but everyone thinks it’s just a typo, so it’s not catching on yet!”
In spite of the strong espionage influence, she refutes the idea of it being a concept album. “It is bookended by two songs that share a theme, similar to the tried-and-tested trope of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, where it only has a slightly developed theme.”
Just as the title track correlates the arts of music and film, closer The Premiere revisits the idea, humorously exploring her frustrations over the contrast between album launches and red-carpeted movie premieres. “Releasing an album in this day and age, you’re just sitting there in your pyjamas and you’re like, ‘Wow, it’s premiering all over the world!’ It should be a really big deal in terms of the kind of connection that we have with the rest of the planet – but it’s really anti-climatic. There’s a lot of moaning about my social media duties embedded in the lyrics across this album too.”
It was just teenagers getting absolutely plastered… as soon as you’re 18 you can do that, and they just actively encourage it!
As well as drawing from the shadowy and seductive world of Bond, To Shoot Another Day finds colour in observing the ordinary moments of the everyday. Timothy Martin’s Conditioning School – named after the founder and chairman of the Wetherspoons pub chain – is set in the mundane and commonplace scenario of teens getting drunk on the weekend; but it’s developed into something shrewd and impishly psychedelic.
“I was looking around Wetherspoons in Southend on a Friday night, and it was just teenagers drinking sweet alcohol buckets, like WKD, using just one straw, and getting absolutely plastered. It’s just hilarious that that’s allowed! As soon as you’re 18 you can go and do that, and they just actively encourage it. Not that I’m judging, of course – I was that 18-year-old too!”
More playfulness can be found in the instrumental The Smut Peddler, a wink to the nickname she gave Roscoe. “He can be quite smutty!” she laughs. “That was just an instrumental riff that I had hanging around on guitar.” Elsewhere, Spook Racket unravels the fantastical and mystical side of showmanship. “It’s a term I picked up in one of my favourite books, Nightmare Alley [by William Lindsay Gresham].
“It’s about the conning mediums who used to go around in the early 20th century. I translated the term to a live band, exploring the magic of it. I was just thinking about how someone from that time, if they saw a rock show now, they’d think it was magic. They’d wonder how the hell it was being done. Like, where are the wires and pulleys?”
There’s a lot of this new wave of classic rock stuff, which I find highly cringeworthy
No such illusionary devices are required for Cunningham’s live performances; just the talent of her own band. “They’re all great musicians – virtuosos in their own right,” she says. “Live, there are always a lot of extended improvisational bits, which I think this album definitely has room for, with all the new blues and jazz elements. Also, we’re a more bombastic rock show live than I ever have been on record, so it’ll be more energetic than before.”
Despite having been part of the prog scene for more than a decade, Rosalie Cunningham still exists very much in her own space; no one does it quite like her. “How do I say this without being mean about modern music?” she reflects. “There’s a lot of this new wave of classic rock stuff, which I find highly cringeworthy. It follows every cliché imaginable, and I do wonder why that is.
“There are amazing artists out there, but you’ve got to scratch the surface a little bit. The ones that seem to get a lot of attention seem to be because they’re pouring all their efforts into social media and promotion, and not songwriting. And people have such short attention spans these days – they’re just throwing in common denominators.”
While she admits to a minor concern that To Shoot Another Day might be a little “too pop” for the typical prog listener, she says she’s always felt accepted within the genre. “The prog audience is especially broad-minded. It’s a great community because I don’t have to worry about anything being too ‘out there’ for them. I’m very grateful for that.”
