There are few modern artists quite like Rosalie Cunningham and her 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 why she’s hoping ‘spy-chedelic rock’ will catch on.

Words: Liz Scarlett

“I can do whatever the fuck I like, it’s my album,” declares Rosalie Cunningham, explaining her current outlook and the story behind the title track of her new record, To Shoot Another Day. On its vivid cover, she’s gazing down the viewfinder of a vintage camera, and she notes how the camera/film motif is her way of “breaking the fourth wall”, bringing the surreal into the real. She’s the filmmaker, director and, really, anybody she wants to be.

“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 play. 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 big statement, and one that she hasn’t always been fully comfortable embracing.

It’s been five years since the release of Cunningham’s self-titled debut, her first full solo release since she disbanded Purson in 2017. The record was quintessentially her own: full of proggish whimsy, marvellously psychedelic and wholly unique. It also laid testament to the fact that she was, and remains to be, the driving component behind all of her endeavours.

“Not everybody knew that I was the creative force behind [Purson]”, she says. “So with my first album, I really felt like I had something to prove. I felt that I had to throw everything at it to prove that I could do it all.”