Origin Harrogate, England Name Karl Culley Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter Role Singer · karlculley.co.uk | Instruments Guitar, Vocals Albums Stripling, Phosphor Years active 1999 to present Genres Folk music, Indie folk | |
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Labels Sound of Jura
Triumphant Sound(UK), Associated acts Giles Perring, James Newton Chadwick, Daniel Webster, Simon Edwards, Melanie Pappenheim Similar People Saratan, James Blackshaw, Bert Jansch, John Martyn, Nick Drake | ||
Karl culley silver set of bones
Karl Culley is an English fingerstyle guitarist, songwriter, singer and poet currently living in Krakow. His percussive guitar style has drawn comparison to John Martyn, José González and Bert Jansch.
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Culley recorded his debut album with the British musician and producer Giles Perring, Bundle of Nerves, in an old school classroom on the Scottish Isle of Jura. Incorporating Perring's multi-instrumental abilities and the bass playing of Simon Edwards (Fairground Attraction, David Gray, Billy Bragg), the album was released to critical acclaim in 2010, MOJO magazine referring to it as an 'impressive début' and awarding it four stars.
His second offering, The Owl, produced by Daniel Webster, was put together in York and his native Harrogate for release in 2011. The Sunday Express awarded The Owl four stars and compared Culley to both Tim Buckley and José González.
Shortly after recording The Owl, Culley definitively moved to Poland.
Working again with Giles Perring, Culley recorded tracks for his third album, Phosphor, in Kraków, Poland, and at Perring's studio on Jura once again. The album, which features the upright bass playing of Ash Johnson, also incorporated Perring's playing once more, alongside guest performances from Simon Edwards on psaltery, drummer Phillip Harper and the singer Melanie Pappenheim. It was released on 08/07/2013 and has been highly praised. Paul Sexton of BBC Radio 2 said 'Phosphor is an excellent album...' Soundblab awarded Phosphor 10 out of 10, calling it 'one of the finest alternative albums so far this year.'. The Italian website Ondarock.com also lauded Phosphor, saying 'Phosphor is a valuable antidote to the poverty of inspiration and courage of many heroes of the indie singer-songwriter genre.'
Culley's fourth album Stripling was released on April 27, 2015. R2 (Rock'n'Reel) awarded Stripling four out of five stars, and compared Culley to Tim Buckley and John Martyn.