[2] In the late 1990s his art practice shifted from painting to video and music, initially with the artist group Common Culture and then the band Rooney.

[5][6][1] His art works often explore the difficulties inherent in the representation of place, mixing unreliable narratives of personal experience and urban myth.

[5] Electric Earth: Film and Video from Britain, a British Council exhibition which toured internationally from 2003, included early music/video work by Rooney.

[40] The album was on Stewart Lee's list of best records of 2017[41] and a track from it, Lost High Street, reached number 1 on the 2017 Festive Fifty (now compiled by Dandelion Radio).

[42] Along with further record releases[43][44] he also began to create sited sound installations in historic locations such as Ripon Courthouse (2019)[45] and Lindisfarne Castle (2022-2023).