Radical Frame
On Radical Frame, Actress places brief pieces, a central pair of tracks and two guest appearances within an eight-part sequence. Its stated ambition is substantial; the record invites closer attention to how those parts relate.
Released by Ninja Tune on 18 September 2026, Radical Frame is a new album from Darren Cunningham, working as Actress. The label presents it in the context of his long-running practice and the Black British avant-garde. That is a serious frame for a record to carry. It is more useful as a question about the work than as a verdict supplied in advance.
The published track list gives the album a compact shape. The Experiment and Gimme Tha' Fuckin’ Money Man lead into Live By You and Overchord, the pair singled out in the label's account of the release. The titles suggest changes of register, from a stated experiment to a more direct address, but the sequence itself has to establish whether those changes amount to a coherent argument.
CASISDEAD appears on Live By You and Rainy Miller on the closing Sheets. Those placements give the guest voices distinct roles on paper: one arrives before the album's centre, the other at its end. Between them sit Cosmo, Withending and Paris. The arrangement leaves room for an instrumental middle passage before the final collaboration, though its effect depends on the sound and pacing of the complete record.
Actress has earned the attention that a new album on Ninja Tune will receive, and Radical Frame sets out a concise, deliberately arranged programme. Its strongest critical question is whether the contrasts promised by its sequence and collaborators become persuasive in the listening, beyond the release's ambitious accompanying text. That judgement remains open here; the album's framing is clear, but its musical resolution requires sustained listening.