When Rosalie Cunningham decided to disband Purson a few years ago, we were left wondering what that meant in practice. Purson was in effect a live band that Rosalie called on to go out and play the albums that she increasingly created on her own in the studio.
From that perspective, nothing much has changed except she now has her own name on the album cover. I’ve since seen that some of the Purson people will be joining her live band as well. Purson may be over as a brand, but more music will clearly spring from the same well.
The situation reminds me of when Andrew Stockdale disbanded Wolfmother to go solo a few years ago. He released an album in his own name, but some Wolfmother people were involved, and the musical style was not that different. What he found was that Wolfmother was a well-known brand, whereas “Andrew Stockdale” wasn’t. The next album and tour was under the Wolfmother moniker again to much bigger success.
Time will show how that works out for Rosalie, but Purson was not exactly on the popularity level of Wolfmother, and with her smaller but more dedicated grass roots following it might be easier in her case to build up her own name.
In all but name, this can be regarded as Purson’s third album. Or the Purson albums could be seen as Cunningham’s two first ones. There are no style changes to speak of here, beyond what you would expect from an artist’s natural progression. We are still talking about jangly, psychedelic-tinged guitar-based rock inspired by the 1960s and 1970s but with modern production values.
The album offers hooks a-plenty, but the careful layering of instruments is what defines Cunningham’s sound. Someone said that she does not really write songs, she “weaves sounds together like magic” and I see what they mean. There definitely is something unique and different about her and the way she sounds, as usually is the case with every great artist.
Ride On My Bike was the first single and is also the album opener, making this the likely introduction to the new album. As one of the more obvious Purson-like tracks on the album, it will sound instantly familiar to old fans.
Cunningham has always written material with slinky guitar lines and alluring melodies, combining parts and sections together to make each song an adventurous experience. Fuzzy guitar tones, bouncy rhythms and vintage organs lead us through this psychedelic bike trip.
One of the most striking songs on the album is the vampy Fuck Love with strong theatrics and a dramatic arrangement, with its witchy tale of love going wrong through the generations like a curse on the family line.
House of the Glass Red and Dethroning of the Party Queen both revolve and rotate in a kaleidoscopic carnival soundtrack. Our hostess might croon that “to be the life and soul will be the death of me” but you get the impression that this party queen is a show stealer in complete control of it all.
Some songs offer a simpler arrangement, and the piano and acoustic guitars of Nobody Hears develop into sweeping strings, while Butterfly is a dreamy pastoral piece that is made to bewitch and hypnotise.
The album’s centrepiece is the nearly 14-minute closer A Yarn From the Wheel. It starts off with a very steady beat alongside a somewhat dramatic riff, and goes through a variety of styles as the song progress. It is the most versatile song Rosalie has been involved in, and takes the listener on a journey.
This is a song of exploration, passing through several sections that switch from an easy paced dance with the devil (with the warning that ‘nothing’s free’) to snatches of folky acoustic/flamenco and medieval waltz and – naturally – a blast of fuzzed out space rock.
Towards the end, you will barely remember how A Yarn From the Wheel began, let alone what style it began as. If you are willing to let yourself be bedazzled, you will be.
If you’re familiar with Purson, you will know what to expect. If not, expect one of the most aesthetically pleasing and melodic, yet eclectic, releases of the year. Rosalie Cunningham is one of the greatest musical minds we have today and I can’t wait to hear what she comes up with next.
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