Karl Culley showcased songs from his new album Stories Save Our Lives (Loose Wire Records) on May 20th – in Krakow’s Strefa Otwarta.
Live, he’s always a treat, his voice’s hushed tones the perfect backdrop to the cauldron of percussive sounds he coaxes from his instrument. The collective result is intimate, barely amplified, yet somehow cinematic, spacious and grand.
Supporting him for the evening was native New York folk troubadour Alex Rainer. Armed with an acoustic guitar, his striking falsetto vocals and deft finger-picking skills are a melodic balm for the most cynically discordant heart. It was only at the end of his set, when he covered some classic Americana in the form of Townes Van Zandt’s If I Needed You that one realises how good his own song-writing actually is, sitting comfortably – shoulder to shoulder – with the craft of those icons from the past.
Karl Culley has released five albums since 2010 and Stories Save Our Lives will be his sixth. A much-loved regular on the Krakow live music scene, tonight’s full house witness an understated, terse start to the show, with the tempo gradually building before his unique rhythmic picking style streams out in full ebb. Live, he’s always a treat, his voice’s hushed tones the perfect backdrop to the cauldron of percussive sounds he coaxes from his instrument. The collective result is intimate, barely amplified, yet somehow cinematic, spacious and grand. The audience is in his hand, but I often wonder what the addition of other instrumentation – violin, cello, or even a full band – would bring to his unique sound and how it might transform it. He also played some classic numbers from the back catalogue – Elephant Juice, School of the Heart, Qualifier (best song ever written about tennis).
Karl Culley’s new album is out now on Loose Wire Records and the album review from Folk
Radio UK is available here.
Stories Save Our Lives, follows Culley through the untethered tumult of heartbreak, to his life-changing OCD diagnosis, and culminates in the revelation of newfound balance, of fledgling love, and redemption. Karl once more showcases his virtuosic fingerpicking but this time favors a more delicate, considered approach on classical.
Culley once more teams up with UK producer and musician Daniel Webster (who produced Karl’s second album The Owl) who frames the songs tastefully and provides additional instrumentation including guitar, synth, piano, bass, trumpet and percussion. Backing vocals are provided on three tracks by Lettie, an acclaimed vocalist and songwriter based in London.
from bandcamp
