A grand album by an off the radar singer-songwriter with a keen gift for melody and a taste for melancholy
John Cunningham takes long gaps between his album releases. And, with each new record, the production is more textured and more elaborate. Happy-Go-Unlucky (2002) is number four, not counting a debut EP, and for this folk/ baroque masterwork, he collaborated with Joe Watson from Stereolab and French composer Mehdi Zannad on arrangements. Fender Rhodes, guitar, Hammond organ, harmonium, French Horn, trumpet and strings provide the orchestral base for these lovely lullabies. The immediate thought is to go to late-period Beatles, but Cunningham’s influences run much deeper than John, Paul, George and Ringo.
John Cunningham is from Brighton, England, but his music has found its biggest audience in France. Born in 1969, Cunningham played in the bands Curtain Twichers and Johnson before striking out on his own. Signing with the East Sussex label La-Di-Da Productions, he released the EP Backward Steps in 1989, co-produced by The Housemartins’ Stan Cullimore. Cunningham’s last three studio albums are available to stream, but the first two (Shankly Gates, Bringing in the Blue) need to be pursued on the CD market. Joe Pernice became an early fan, inviting Cunningham to open for his solo shows and with the reformed Scud Mountain Boys. Pernice re-released Happy-Go-Unlucky with Homeless House (1998) as a twofer on his Ashmont Records label, hoping to give the Englishman broader American exposure.
John Cunningham waited fourteen years after Happy-Go-Unlucky to put out his most recent album, Fell, in 2016. Seven years have passed with no new music. While we wait, take a look at Cunningham’s captivating artwork on his website.