"A giant glitter-puff of pure magic": Rosalie Cunningham's innate theatricality and clever songwriting shine on To Shoot Another Day

Glittering prog-psych indulgence for all

Rosalie Cunningham: To Shoot Another Day cover art
(Image: © Esoteric Antenna)

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A beacon of eccentricity in a drab world, Rosalie Cunningham has a kaleidoscopic musical brain. To Shoot Another Day is her third studio album, and like its predecessors, it brings the breezily psychedelic and the intricately crafted together in a giant glitter-puff of pure magic.

Still in thrall to the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, the convoluted but irresistibly catchy likes of Timothy Martin’s Conditioning School and Denim Eyes twist nostalgia into revelation, as Cunningham’s innate theatricality and clever songwriting casually conjure a gently lysergic otherworld that seems to exist out of time.

Rosalie Cunningham - In The Shade Of The Shadows - (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO) - YouTube Rosalie Cunningham - In The Shade Of The Shadows - (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO) - YouTube
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A proven writer of great riffs, she excels herself on menacing exposé The Smut Peddler and the gnarly Spook Racket. The title track is a cracked mirror Bond theme, dripping with melodrama; Heavy Pencil fidgets and pirouettes like The Monochrome Set jamming with Grand Funk; and The Premiere rhymes “pyjamas” with “Bahamas” and absolutely gets away with it.

National treasure status is inevitable, surely?

Dom Lawson
Writer

Dom Lawson has been writing for Metal Hammer and Prog for over 14 years and is extremely fond of heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee and snooker. He also contributes to The Guardian, Classic Rock, Bravewords and Blabbermouth and has previously written for Kerrang! magazine in the mid-2000s.