Rosalie Cunningham

Released in July 2019 to immediate widespread acclaim, former Purson singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rosalie Cunningham’s eponymous début album – her first with the Esoteric Antenna label, part of the Cherry Red group – was the result of an extended period of reflection. Containing some of her most compelling and daring songwriting to date, the album justifiably earned a Top 10 placing in the UK’s official independent chart. As pre-orders of the Mercury Music Prize-nominated album were exhausted in just 48 hours, critics were united in their reactions to the solo artist’s reinvention. While major publications including Classic Rock, Mojo and Kerrang gave stellar ratings in their uniformly positive reviews, Cunningham also featured in a number of ‘Best of the Year’ polls. In Europe, popular German music magazine Eclipse voted her album the year’s ninth best release, however, back home in the UK, Prog listed it as 2019’s third best album, behind Opeth and Big Big Train. Further accolades from Prog came when the magazine named Cunningham the “eighth greatest female musician of all time”. Fronting a brand new five-piece outfit, Cunningham came storming out of the starting gate that summer with a live session on BBC 6 Music and an extraordinarily well-received tour of the UK, offering what reviewer Mike Ainscoe described as a “wholly immersive experience”.