Rosalie Cunningham is back with her second album as a solo artist. Some may remember her as the frontwoman, songwriter and musical leader in Purson. This was in effect a solo project with Cunningham overseeing the creation of their albums, primarily calling on the full band when the time came to perform the songs live.
The move to release and tour under her own name did not ring in any musical changes, which is great for those of us who enjoy her special brand of psychedelia-tinged progressive glam rock with obvious influences from the 1960s and 70s. She very much sticks to her guns and Two Piece Puzzle sees her developing her unique blend of these sounds further.
The album was largely created in isolation by Cunningham and Rosco Wilson (her partner in both music and life), and the album title reflects on their symbiotic relationship, professional and otherwise. While other people have been involved on previous albums, Rosalie has always firmly been in charge. The extent of the Cunningham/Wilson collaboration may be the biggest change, allowing someone to influence more of the end results than previously.
The album had a bit of a narrow birth. The pair booked a studio and started recording it, but the ambience and overall sound didn’t feel right. Everything ended up being scrapped and they started over, this time back in their own home studio. This felt better, and also gave the opportunity to take the time they needed. This has clearly given room for some experimentation. While Cunningham is known for trying out various things, this time the album has everything you’d expect, something extra, even more, and the kitchen sink too.
The album starts on an unusual note – but then again, wouldn’t that be usual in this case? Start With the Corners is an instrumental track which serves more as an appetizer than a main course. It revolves around a groovy riff, and several instruments get to take the lead in this introductory track. It gives a good taste of the multiple layers of sonic expressions to come.
The following tracks Donovan Ellington and Donny Pt Two are lyrically linked, as both songs tell the story about the dissatisfied blacksmith Donovan, who wants to escape his humdrum life, responsibilities, and problems by running away to see the world. Both songs recount Mr Ellington’s escapades, with Cunningham conjuring up a unique world where a number of wondrous things happen. “I absolutely loved doing that,” she told Classic Rock Magazine, “so much so that I feel I’m not really done with that story. I might just keep writing sequels to it, create some sort of Donovan Ellington World franchise.”
The album contains a mix of styles as well as song lengths. In addition to longer works, there are shorter pieces, of which The War is the first. Experimental in nature, it started life as a poem that became the counterpoint to the sound of a piano’s final, dying moments. Cunningham’s old piano had to be dismantled, and incidental samples were recorded as they took it apart. The discordant sounds of snapping strings sounded amazing, and they found their home on the album as aural accompaniment to the poem. The results are cool and memorable, even though it would be a push to call this the album highlight.
Duet finds itself on the other end of the scale as the longest track on the album. It sees Wilson and Cunningham trade verses as they take on the roles of a fighting couple. They wrote the track together, which Cunningham described to Classic Rock as “this role reversal thing where the man is the one at home with the kids and the woman is out there gallivanting, trying to be an actress but just sleeping about.” She also stressed, “That’s definitely not autobiographical!”
The song is full of ebb and tide, as well as an extremely alluring musical accompaniment. Easily one of the best tracks on offer, the honky tonk piano sound largely define the style of the early part of the song, which roll on with a swagger. The musical passages in the song keeps changing as the narrative changes and goes through different stages. Wilson and Cunningham have enormous chemistry, as you’d expect, and add so much to the song through their performances alone. If you can, look up the music video to the song – it’s a riot!
From one long track we go straight into another, as Tristitia Amnesia is the second longest track on the album. Long tracks back-to-back can be an issue, but not at all in this case as the tracks we’re talking about are easily the strongest tracks on offer. Cunningham has frequently shown herself to be a master of the longer storytelling format, and with this album this reputation is cemented. Her imagination seems to take flight when there is more room to do so, both lyrically and musically. She blossoms on the longer tracks, seem to feel there is room to get more inventive, and consequently these are the songs where she manages to surprise and delight the most. She proved this point well with the 14-minute epic A Yarn From the Wheel from her previous 2019 self-titled album. While no song on Two Piece Puzzle is close to that length, the new album has several longer songs overall in the 5-8 minute range. I think it would be really interesting to see her push this a bit in the future with fewer and longer tracks.
For now, though, we have songs like Tristitia Amnesia, which is long-ish at the 7+ minute mark. It has a delightful eastern-flavoured intro, complete with sitar sounds and a multi-layered vocal track in the shape of a mantra. As she sings at the end of that section, “Mantras are so hard to find / This one’s mine”.
When the song morphs into a rock format a few minutes in, the mysticism carries over with psychedelic sounds from the late 60s – organ, vintage guitar sounds, and an arrangement which is manages the art of mixing progressive elements with slinky and catchy rhythms. A special kudos to miss Rosalie’s vocals on this track in particular, where she dances up and down the scales while adding a wistful quality to the tale about repeating the same mistakes over and over, but trying to leave yourself little coded clues here and there to break the cycles.
Ask me again who what why or when
And I’ll tell you that I couldn’t
For the life of me remember
It was way back in December
And it’s January now
Scared of the Dark starts with fuzzy guitar riffs and a slamming band sound that could have been quite the hard rock extravaganza – at least if it hadn’t been played with a strict emphasis on ambience, which after all suits Cunningham better. The song throws several curveballs as it morphs into several different genres along the way, as the narrator tells different parts of the woeful tale of trying to escape from the horror in the dark.
God Is A Verb is the second short song on the album, made as an afterthought to the album similar to Her Majesty on The Beatles’ iconic Abbey Road album, and it’s a similar type of guitar/vocal ditty as well. The tune came out of playing short melodies on the guitar and thinking, “why not use it on the album?” It gives a bit of contrast to the longer pieces.
Suck Push Bang Blow comes from the same place as the other songs, but wears its cosmic influences on its sleeve. The verses are spacious, slower, and near-hypnotic in their basic, simple groove. The chorus are by contrast huge, expanding into choirs of multi-layered Rosalie. The groove is lifted up a bit for the wonderfully effect-laden guitar solos, and never really looks back from there.
The Liner Notes is quite the multi-genre sonic tapestry of a song, the first part veering between a melodic vintage rock piece and a jazz lounge arrangement. The end section seems to be a completely different song, combined in a Beatle A Day In the Life-kind of way, combining piano shanties, sing-a-longs, and other various elements in a bewildering, but delightful, way. Just like Queen once confused those who had embraced them as a hard rock band by adding tunes like Seaside Rendezvous, Cunningham is certainly not adverse to taking her listeners through similar musical journeys.
The last two songs on the album are bonus tracks. Both Number 149 and The Fossil Song were released as a 7’’ vinyl single in 2021. Both of these are quality songs that I am happy to have on CD as well. Number 149 is a particular favourite of mine, named after the house Cunningham grew up in.
Two Piece Puzzle is one of the most fascinating albums I have picked up so far this year. The era that Cunningham keeps being inspired by is an era I still keep exploring as well, and I am delighted that that new, contemporary music of this quality is being produced with these influences intact.
The album is stacked with sounds, effects, and unusual sonic elements and instruments, making it an adventure to listen through. While the album may be less immediate than its predecessor for those reasons, it is by the same token more interesting to listen to and is ultimately capable of yielding higher rewards with repeated listening.
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