Rock

Rosalie Cunningham
To Shoot Another Day
Esoteric Antenna EANTCD1111; LP: MEP002
(Limited Edition)

Singer and multi-instrumentalist Cunningham has been likened to Kate Bush and The Beatles, but there’s even more. On her third solo album, her rich melodies are matched by the adventurousness of the arrangements, which seamlessly incorporate elements of progressive rock, psychedelia, hard rock, and a little folk, with a filmic sense of drama – particularly on the title track, surely a potential Bond theme. ‘Heavy Pencil’ is in tricky 5/8 time with sax and flute flurries giving it a flavour of Dave Brubeck and Henry Mancini mixed with cop show jazz, and an underlying feel of ’70s glam theatricality fully emerges on ‘Good To Be Damned’, as she sings ‘I’m in the company of a demon man’, with a wry seductiveness. MB

Sound Quality: 90%

Mirror System
Route 77
A-Wave AAWCD022

Guitarist Steve Hillage first built up rhythm tracks using tape delays when in ’70s space-rockers Gong, and updated his exploration of repetitive beats in the techno-influenced System 7 back in the 1990s. On Mirror System, he and musical and life partner Miquette Giraudy mix up sweet guitar, sumptuous synths and bubbling sequencers, inspired by the open landscapes of America. Hillage plays slide guitar on ‘Paris Texas’ – a cover of Ry Cooder’s music for that film – and his lead lines arc skywards on ‘John Vain’. The action mainly takes place above subtle electronic beats, but everything comes alive in kaleidoscopic fashion on the polyrhythms of ‘Sunrain’. MB

Sound Quality: 85%

Amyl And The Sniffers
Cartoon Darkness
Rough Trade 1000162766; LP: 1000162762

These Melbourne punks sold out three nights at London’s Roundhouse back in November and here combine rock ’n’ roll clout with wit and irreverence. On ‘Jerkin’’, Amy Taylor’s lyrics are so scabrously profane they might prompt blushes from the shockable. ‘Big Dreams’, a rare moment of sober reflection, is soon pushed aside by the fuzz bass and serrated guitars of ‘Its Mine’, and on ‘Chewing Gum’ Taylor proclaims, ‘I’m young and so dumb’, before getting metaphorically stuck on the object of her desire. But she’s had enough of ‘ugly and hairy’ boys on ‘Me And The Girls’, preferring to go out on the razzle with her ‘snazzy and hot’ coterie. Watch out! MB

Sound Quality: 80%

Fionn Regan
O Avalanche
Nettwerk FR0007CD; LP: FR0007LP

In the five years since the Irish singer-songwriter’s last album, it sounds like he’s been enjoying some good times. He wrote O Avalanche in Mallorca and, on the animated opener ‘Islands’, dreamily recounts being by the sea, presenting the Balearics as a place of endless summer, much as Brian Wilson did for California. The mood is languorous with acoustic guitar and Regan’s reverbed multi-tracked voice, with Anna Friel adding spectral vocals to the hymnal title track. It’s intended to be listened to as a continuous narrative and the 11 songs have a similar feel, but ‘Anja 1’ is a particularly haunting creation, its melody etched out by spartan piano. MB

Sound Quality: 80%