Rose McDowall - Cut With The Cake Knife [Red with Bone White Splatter]

After Strawberry Switchblade split, Rose McDowall spent 1988 and 1989 recording the songs that had been meant for the duo's never-made second album. Cut With The Cake Knife captures that material, a collection of ornate, melancholy pop that has since grown into a cult favorite.

The sound is instantly recognizable as McDowall's: sweet, lilting melodies set against shadowy arrangements, with synthesizers, chiming guitars and her unmistakable voice carrying everything. "Tibet," "Sunboy" and the title track show off her gift for bittersweet hooks, while a haunting cover of Blue Öyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper" shows how naturally she could bend other people's songs into her own world. The bridge between Strawberry Switchblade's jangling pop and her later work in the neofolk and experimental underground runs right through this record.

This Sacred Bones edition has been remastered by Shawn Joseph and pressed on red vinyl with bone white splatter.