Rosie Carney – ‘Doomsday… Don’t Leave Me Here’ album review: A cinematic scaling up
When Rosie Carney began thinking about what she wanted her fourth album to sound like, there was only really one clear aim: she wanted it to be bigger, in every sense of the word. With each release since her earlier folkier works, that desire to expand had been clearer. But on Doomsday… Don’t Leave Me Here, the artist has clearly found a key.
The Skinny: “My imagination was, and still is, my main source of inspiration,” Carney told Far Out as she shared her four main inspirations and influences that contributed to this album. Of the four, one was rooted in ultimate reality as she discussed the impact of simply watching the hill outside her parents’ house change. But the other three were all fantasy: movies, books, and even the made-up language crafted by Elizabeth Fraser.
The interplay of realism and fantasy makes up this record. It is also undeniably the thing that makes it great, as the desire to make something bigger that has always lingered in Carney’s work is fully realised now.
From moment one to the final notes, this is a big album. It’s cinematic but in a way that, once again, feels distinct to Carney’s unique influences. It is a fantasy that makes sense of the real world.
The album does that over and over as the world around Carney, and around all of us, feels increasingly insane. It doesn’t feel like there’s a way to acknowledge the current state of affairs without feeling like you’re living in a dystopian plotline, so the record leans into that, routinely returning to apocalyptic and hyper-exaggerated images to articulate even the smallest of feelings that truly never feel tiny at all.
Mostly though, Doomsday… Don’t Leave Me Here sounds big. The most impressive thing throughout is the incredible expansion of Carney’s sonic world, creating these soundscapes that boom into your headphones so glossy, gorgeous and utterly immersive. The production scale has stepped up hugely, certainly helped by her collaboration with Ed Thomas and The 1975’s Ross MacDonald.
In the interplay between that and the sweetness and softness of Carney’s voice, we land at the perfect and fascinating balance of her two polar influences, putting fantasy and raw reality together in beautiful contrast but also intoxicating harmony.
The Verdict: On her best album yet, Rosie Carney displays her mission towards greatness. She’s allowing herself to expand, and the influence of fantasy worlds, both as a sonic texture and storytelling inspiration, has granted her permission to go beyond what she knew before into something more sparkly.
Standout Track: ‘Here’
Release Date: February 27th, 2026 | Producer: Rosie Carney, Ed Thomas and Ross MacDonald | Label: cool0nline
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