Rosalie Cunningham

Ms Cunningham’s previous album was a revelation, a throwback to the kind of prog/psychedelic music that was around in the late sixties and early seventies but with a freshness about it that was truly exciting.

This time around, all the elements are still there but there is a slightly more ‘adult’ feel to the music, maybe reflecting of the times in which it was written and recorded. No less exciting and certainly no lesser in the quality of the playing or writing.

Musically, the album hits you in many ways, from Rosalie’s knowing and slightly exaggerated tones with that wonderful trilling vibrato in her vocal style (she also plays guitars, bass, Hammond & percussion), through Roscoe Wilson’s multi-faceted guitar – sometimes pure tones with plenty of fuzz and wah wah and even jazzy licks on some tracks – to the heavy Hammond sound, use of mellotron and violin, courtesy of Fairport Convention’s Ric Sanders, it even features bouzouki and mandolin from Darren Jones. Antione Planc plays drums on most tracks with Roscoe & Pat Keneally also featuring on drums.

Rosalie tells us stories. About people and circumstances and with a touch of Ray Davies exaggeration about them but the stories are interspersed with music that stands in its own right so that you get something that appeals at every level, never letting you rest and drawing you into the album from start to finish. There is a sense of fun and coquettishness in some tracks and the music emphasises that in a very mannered and subtle way. At other times, the music takes off into the stratosphere so the dynamics of the album are exciting and exhausting in turn.

Its great to see that Rosalie Cunningham has produced an album in line with her debut and every bit as good. It’s been stuck on my player for a couple of weeks and shows no sign of being filed anytime soon.