Revival By David Cullen

 

Revival

By

David Cullen

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

I have sat in bliss for a second time now, listening to this glorious album of acoustic guitar called Revival by David Cullen, I try and not to refer to my notes until I begin to write, and knew for certain I had heard of the name David Cullen for another reason, that slap your head moment came when I realised he is the husband of the most amazingly talented Jill Haley, a musical family of great significance indeed.

Here on this brand new release Cullen breaks a 15 year long hiatus from solo recordings, and delivers a pin-point master class of truly amazing acoustic guitar music, with the opener Looking Up starting this most splendid of journeys, with a sun kissed mountain stream of a composition.

Revival is a 12 track album that flows like a summer tide into a harbour of boundless beauty, tracks like Follow The Creek prove that point with ease, a song that simply drifts down the waters of life’s rich path, creating wonderfully textured ripples as it goes.

One can find so much to enjoy on this new release, patterns of rich colours and tapestries of sublime moods and tones, like on the tracks Clouds, No Rain, which is without doubt one of the finest and most moody arrangements on guitar I have heard for ages, and reminds me a lot of the guitarist Vin Downes, or the piece Rolling In The Meadow a sun kissed composition of sparkling wonderment, and so redolent of the subject matter.

We can get lost in the chase on tracks like Let The Horses Run, a boundless spirit runs here on a song that cries freedom, or the most delightful opus of Meet You At The County Line, a track that contains a softness of touch and a heartfelt honesty rolling in the centre of the composition, a piece that exemplifies the carefree energies of life, love and laughter, and is also the concluding composition from the album.

Revival by David Cullen is an album that everyone will want in their own personal record collections, it’s a memory palace of a release, it has a vibrancy that is cheer filed, a sensitive side to its creation, and of course a pure sense of a reality of unhindered freedom, under a spring like revival of a life embracing moment. This album is indeed a masterclass of stylish acoustic guitar; it is instrumental music at its very best, and should with ease be a big hit on the charts for the artist.