new spin

Shaken and stirred – former Purson bandleader has a licence to thrill on third solo album.

Words: Jo Kendall

Edited by Dave Everley prog.reviews@futurenet.com

R osalie Cunningham is having fun. It’s in every note, word and musical gesture on this, her third solo LP, the cinematically-styled To Shoot Another Day.

This hasn’t always been the case She’s admitted that her 2019 self-titled debut and 2022’s Two-Piece Puzzle are trauma-inducing enough for her to give them the swerve until her courage is plucked up. Peculiar, as these are high-calibre works, but after leaving Purson in 2017 –the psych noir group that Cunningham founded in 2011 –she was finding her feet, having been mistakenly viewed as just the figurehead for the band and not its driving force.

Six years on, she has a wealth of experience from composition to touring to music biz clout, and support and inspiration from life and work partner Rosco Wilson. Cunningham has led from the front, producing the LP and playing guitars, bass, keyboards and percussion as well as performing expressive lead and backing vocals, aided by former Purson sticksman Raphael Mura, with Wilson co-producing and supplying additional guitar and drums. Consequently, Cunningham’s ready for an extreme close-up with some of her best songs yet; confident, comfortable and most definitely created for her own amusement.

If the nod to the world of secret agent James Bond hasn’t been grasped by the LP title, then the titular opening track will give it away with a none-too-subtle John Barry-meets-Macca Live And Let Die homage as Cunningham sings of a person wrapped up in their own bubble, starring in their own play, ‘wearing a briefcase and tie, I feel like a spy’. The Bond moment is fleeting; Cunningham confesses to doing a Sgt. Pepper’s and beginning and ending with something conceptual, only to fill the bit in between with other stuff.

Soon we’re off to Timothy Martin’s Conditioning School, a comment on power, corruption and indoctrination –with a laughand her outlook is actually quite cheery, thank you very much. Taking the tempo down is the sleazy jazz belter In The Shade Of The Shadows, warning of a nefarious character’s dirty deeds, done happily and remorselessly. There’s more from East on sax, and pianist David Woodcock lands some colourful Mike Garson-like progressions.

Seventies softcore porn soundtracks light up The Smut Peddler, a short sexedelic instrumental interlude where Vampyros Lesbos snuggles with Black Sabbath, Wilson sparking on lead guitar. It was so-titled because it’s a filthy riff –and Wilson’s pet name.

The Beatles’ influence is never far away. Denim Eyes starts with a Strawberry Fields see-saw Mellotron part. This transitions into a bright little Pilot-meets-Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da pop ballad that’s as throwaway as its creator intended, acting as a bridge to the meatier glam-rock crunch of Spook Racket where Cunningham’s vaudeville carny characterisation from Purson returns to ply a trade in paranormal fakery. Flavours of The Doors, Uriah Heep, Ghost and Tull abound in this standout track, fading out like a Pied Piper prancing into the distance.

Penultimately, Stepped Out Of Time is a pretty, old-timey waltz recalling Neil Young or The Band in a poignant story about what seems to be fading glamour and mortality. But the tongue goes firmly back into Cunningham’s cheek to finish, with the grand, theatrical The Premiere. Referencing the modern-life-is-rubbish faffery of the process of releasing work online to a response of one hand clapping, it’s relatable to most artists and creative types.

With the credits rolling it’s apparent that the central thrust of To Shoot… isn’t the ‘concept’ as such –which doesn’t really exist –but Cunningham herself, her style, personality and imagination in creating one of 2024’s most playful and individual records. Expertly played, seriously plotted, it’s well worth securing a front-row seat for.

CYAN

The Guardians

TIGERMOTH RECORDS

Epic yet non-essential reimagining from UK prog auteur Robert Reed.

Before Magenta, Robert Reed led his first proper band, Cyan. Formed in the early 1980s, they released three albums between 1993 and 1999. Reed has revisited that back catalogue in recent years, re-recording and even rewriting their first two albums, 1993’s For King And Country (in 2021) and Pictures From The Other Side (in 2023), with the latter especially turning out to be an superb reimagining.

There were two tracks missing from the updated Pictures… album, though. The original version opened with the 12-minute The Guardians, which Reed had subsequently reconstructed and expanded to a hefty 24 minutes for the new version, renaming it The Guardians Of Your Destiny. Unfortunately, it turned out to be simply too long to be included on the new album, as was another song, All Around The World. Reed gives both an airing here, packaged with an instrumental, with roots dating back to the mid-80s.

The headline track is the behemoth The Guardians Of Your Destiny. Of old-fashioned prog-epic length, it passes through many relatively short sections. Starting gently and featuring a fragile initial vocal from Angharad Brinn (who isn’t used nearly enough on this record, leaving much of the vocal heavy lifting to Peter Jones), it builds through a combination of proggy hard rock and melodic neo-prog sections. Reed drops in the odd Genesis references that can’t be accidental, like the snatch of Cinema Show-esque soloing that appears near six minutes in, and the 30-second burst of Apocalypse in 9/8style tension about three-quarters of the way in.

Of the other two tracks here, All Around The World starts with some whimsical Hackett-esque 12-string guitar, Jones’s emotive rasp and the merest hint of Mellotron. It’s a pleasant enough slice of melodic pop-rock balladry with a hopeful hands-across-the-divide message, although its concession to prog is limited to Luke Machin’s soaring guitar solo and the polysynth feature tacked on the end (interestingly, this isn’t the first time it’s been re-recorded –it was given an all-star makeover in 2004 as a charity single under the banner ProgAID). The third track, the eponymous Cyan, is an entertaining instrumental built from ideas the embryonic band used to jam. Featuring a generous amount of Jones on saxophone and a couple of tasty bursts of Machin’s guitar, it’s jaunty and even a little playful around the middle.

Yet for all that, The Guardians doesn’t quite pass muster in the same way as its two reimagined predecessors. The performances are top quality and there are many great ideas, but it’s less cohesive –more of a bonus disc for Cyan fans than a standalone album.

GARY MACKENZIE

LEE ABRAHAM

Origin Of The Storm F2 MUSIC

Seasoned British progger delivers album of mixed musical messages.

This is current Galahad guitarist Lee Abraham’s 10th solo album. He sets out his stall with an immediate highlight, the title-track opener Origin Of The Storm – a bold, soaring instrumental with rumbling synths, guitar histrionics and great forward momentum. However, Abraham then demonstrates a bit of a musical split personality – and it’s not the only instance on the album.

The introduction of heavy guitar and keyboard figures sets up The Same Life, which then morphs without warning into something very different: a sparse mid-tempo pop-rock ballad, with the ubiquitous Peter Jones emoting the lyrics. It’s almost like the two sections ended up in the same song by accident, creating a disconnect. Chalk Hill, also with Jones on vocals, is much more cohesive, as Abraham’s lyrics reflect on a childhood now far in the past in a manner that wouldn’t sound out of place on any recent BBT album.

Elsewhere Isolation/Dislocation channels the musician’s inner hard rocker and fretboard wrangler and Siren’s Song is a hearty prog mini-epic. Slightly odd compositional choices aside, when Origin Of The Storm is good, it’s a satisfying listen.

GMM

EBONY BUCKLE

Hearts Get Started EBONYBUCKLE.BANDCAMP.COM

A second batch of beautiful contemplations from the prog-pop powerhouse.

Singer/songwriter Ebony Buckle has made a splash in the prog scene, both as a backing vocalist/ keyboard player with UK prog veterans Solstice and as a solo artist with her 2021 debut, Disco Lasers. This follow-up retains the Australian-born Buckle’s knack for luscious pastoral arrangements and operatic drama, equalling its predecessor.

The title track is a great example of her continued magnificence, as its delicate piano chords, triumphant strings and angelic harmonies are wonderfully inspiring and sophisticated. The same holds true for

the ominously aggressive Fall Behind, the mysterious I Think I Just Saved My Own Life, and the heartland rock-esque Run. As vibrant as those pieces are, Buckle wisely prioritises her arguably stronger softer side, with the delicately orchestrated acoustic Jupiter Rising and Golden Sand showcasing the touching power of her voice and lyricism. The interlocking vocals of theatrical opener Fall Behind and the playful raucousness of country and blues rocker The Whiskey Song bolster Hearts Get Started’s diversity and ambitiousness, and Buckle’s outstanding artistry.

JMB

Recorded two days before the Aston

CAN

Live In Keele 77 MUTE/FUTURE DAYS

A glorious exercise in shared sonic freedom.

If this series of live releases from Can has revealed anything, it’s that the kosmische pioneers remained a formidable live juggernaut while their recorded efforts gained less critical traction as the 70s moved on. This alternative history throws an entirely new light to contradict the notion of creative decline in the wake of vocalist Damo Suzuki’s departure in 1973. Not only was their onstage telepathy still finely tuned, but Can’s improvisational excursions were unencumbered by the edits and technical diktats of the studio.

show that made up the previous release in the series, the Keele University gig presented here is a muscular beast that sees Can take flight from the off. The groove is dirtier and heavier with Irmin Schmidt’s keyboards giving off a pungent funk on opener Keele 77 Eins. Keele 77 Drei makes a nod to Moonshake before guitarist Michael Karoli gives Robert Fripp a run for his money. Though occasionally meandering, Can’s ability to reconnect remains a wonder as they take individual paths to reach the greater communal good. This is what unity sounds like.

JM

DAWNWALKER

The Unknowing DAWNWALKER.BANDCAMP.COM

Spacey despair served with impressive melodies.

With a fresh line-up behind him, Dawnwalker leader Mark Norgate takes the group in intriguing new directions on his band’s sixth album.

Centred on the concept of a search for belonging in an unknowable universe, the music is appropriately more spacious and spacey, yet with a pop-leaning edge.

Capricorn adds a nagging electric piano figure and killer chorus to its template of echoing vastness and slabs of guitar, while Heaven And Earth is an affectingly desolate ballad, with the kind of cavernous wistfulness that evokes early King Crimson’s more introspective moments. Mirrorpool, meanwhile, takes things in a more ambient direction, with Norgate and co-vocalist Sofia Sourianou surrounded by spectral flutes and stately touches of the baroque. The closing pair of Fall To Earth and The Law hit harder, but still retain that melodic edge. The former builds around an anxious, relentless piano figure, with Norgate’s most powerful vocal on the album, while the latter ends things on a contemplative but forlorn note.

An intriguing album for those who like their musings accompanied by desolate but decent tuneage.

PGI

DAYS BETWEEN STATIONS

Perpetual Motion Machines (Music For AFilm) DAYSBETWEENSTATIONS.BANDCAMP.COM

An ambitious but uninvolving change of pace for arty prog duo.

Artists should be commended for trying something new and bold, even if the results don’t fully work. Such is the case with Days Between Stations’ fourth album, Perpetual Motion Machines, which finds guitarist Sepand Samzadeh and keyboardist Oscar Fuentes Bills delivering a subdued score for a documentary about artist Jean-Paul Bourdier.

There are a few highlights strewn throughout, including carnivalesque opener Waltz For The Dead, mournful orchestral piece Seeds and new agetinged rocker Being (featuring the record’s sole vocal performance, courtesy of Durga McBroom). But much of the rest of the album is less interesting, with the initially intriguing electronic ambiance of Proof Of Life and meditative piano work of Unearth overstaying their welcome before the meandering Stone Faces and Paradigm Lost offer little to appreciate.

Perpetual Motion Machines delivers on the promise of its subtitle and provides a suitably cinematic feel, but without the context of the documentary it soundtracks, it doesn’t work as a standalone album.

JMB

CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX

The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature/ Horrific Honorifics Number Two SEASON OF MIST

Dark prog denizens revisit the past and pay tribute.

One of the few truly radical rock bands of the 21st century, Crippled Black Phoenix have amassed a huge catalogue of music over the last 20 years. Understandably, given the harmonious efficacy of their current line-up, they have elected to re-record and rework a number of old songs, reclaiming them for the present day. What could have been a straightforward odds’n’sods collection is really a new studio album, albeit one with

flagrant echoes from the past. CBP mainstays Justin Greaves and Belinda Kordic have navigated their way through many years of turbulence, particularly regarding personnel, and so The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature endeavours to establish fresh versions of these low-key classics, thus gently banishing any half-remembered bad blood and clearing the decks for a new era of furious creativity that began, in truth, with 2022’s double set Banefyre. Less a stopgap than an important adjustment of CBP’s musical focus, it’s the perfect vehicle for celebrating their 20th anniversary.

It begins with a stunning rebirth for one of Crippled Black Phoenix’s finest songs. We Forgotten Who We Are originally appeared on the band’s 2012 album I, Vigilante, and is arguably the one song here that requires little tinkering. That said, this new version is even more grand and gritty than its forebear, and Kordic and co-vocalist Justin Storms’ dual performance is a masterclass in blended tones and two-way chemistry. Similarly, Song For The Unloved (originally titled Song For The Loved and appearing on 2009’s The Resurrectionists) ebbs and flows over 14 blissfully dynamic, spiritually enriching minutes, rendering the original almost entirely redundant. Stunning new takes on 444, Whissendine and, in particular, a fulsome rejig of Goodnight, Europe (from CBP’s 2007 debut, A Love Of Shared Disasters) are beautiful, bruising and subtly ingenious in equal measure.

Anyone who has witnessed Crippled Black Phoenix performing Pink Floyd’s Echoes in full will know that this band are absurdly great at cover versions. A companion album, Horrific Honorifics Number Two –itself a sequel to the 2017 covers set of the same name –is another spellbinding collection of subversive reinterpretations. New Model Army’s vitriolic anthem Vengeance is dispatched with zeal; Laura Branigan’s 80s super-hit Self Control is reborn as an aching cry for help; songs by Nomeansno, Fugazi and Built To Spill are given the caustic, wall-of-guitar treatment; and Deep Purple’s When A Blind Man Cries has exudes iridescent, emotional power. Once again, what a band they are.

DOM LAWSON