Michael P Cullen

Following up from the entertaining ‘Love Transmitter’, Australian song writer and performer Michael P Cullen continues to produce his unique brand of darkly amorous ditties with True Believer.

Michael P Cullen’s entire sound in True Believer is indicative of so many great composers, singers and song writers, predominantly Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The iconic voice; the meditative backing vocals; the experimental uncertainty from song to song – the similarities are striking throughout. In my opinion, Cullen is somewhat too strikingly similar to his aforementioned compatriots despite never really citing Cave’s work as a source of inspiration. Cullen is perfectly content drawing comparisons to the likes of David Bowie, The Go Betweens and The Doors though…Maybe, if you combine the influences of these bands, the resulting product just happens to sound like ‘Let Love In’?

Cullen’s True Believer album even utilises the traditional production processes of the music that influenced it in order to re-establish that authentic, vintage sound. Relying on old tape machines and condenser microphones, this nine-track album boasts an atmospheric crispness that resembles the performance stage rather than the studio booth. Throughout, the album is both so rich in acoustical body, and yet, constructed with simple arrangements. There’d probably be a die-hard cult following for this as far back as the sixties, it’s that well-produced.

Cullen clearly has a style of performance – particularly vocally – that gives his songs a diversity of timbre and, consequently, emotional impact. In many respects, his songs are slightly melodious poems, conveyed with inexpressive baritone tonality that has become his signature. Like a cheerless sermon, Cullen presides over a congregation of the fearful, downtrodden and love lost followers with abstrusely bittersweet themes to incongruously spritely compositions.

True Believer has just enough variety from song to song to consider it different from your average pop rock record. Saturated in the strums of semi-acoustic guitars and lengthy organ notes, Cullen’s fingerprint is clear but he still manages to catch the listener unawares with tracks like the electronically inspired ‘Damaged’. For the most part however, the evolution of Cullen’s work appears to be all about devolution.