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Reviews for debut album from The Humming Field "Top Britpop from the U.S.A." If history doesn’t repeat itself, it will turn 180 degrees. In the sixties American blues music was the starting point of Britpop, now the same British popmusic is an inspiration for many a musician from the U.S.A. This is also the case with Matt Cullen from Easthampton, Massachusetts. After a servile existence as groupmember and producer of a small army of groups, he presented his own cd The Humming Field. And what a cd it is! In his own country the music press speaks in terms of Paul McCartney’s younger brother, an early David Bowie and an heir to the legacy of XTC. Not the least ones. The comparisons, honourable as they may be, don’t do this cd justice. Seldom did a cd title fit so well as The Humming Field. That is exactly what this cd brings about: on a regular basis you hum the songs that after a few times playing nestle in the musical subconsciousness as if they have always been there. The lovely melodies, smooth singing, plus the instruments skilfully handled by Matt Cullen, cause a catchiness that vies with Britpop talents’ songs of the last two decennia. Playfully Cullen throws off songs like the hilarical Outside looking in, rocksongs I didn’t know and Empty Pockets, the ingeniously modulating instrumental song Underwater and the folky summer song Nothing But Alone. Songs that all deserve a spot on Mount Olymp of classical Britpop songs. The rest of the songs hardly stays behind. That’s why this cd deserves a place in the archives of import British pop music amongst the very best that this genre has to offer.
Review from PureMusic.com (puremusic.com) "There's absolutely nothing ordinary about journeyman Massachusetts guitarist/producer Matt Cullen's long-awaited solo debut, The Humming Field, a richly textured dozen-track set that frequently evokes the beatific buzz of XTC's most riveting work. Cullen, who's collaborated onstage and/or in the studio with (among others) The Sighs, Kevin Salem, and most recently Ware River Club, artfully conveys a broad range of meaning by using every poetic tool at his disposal. Like XTC and other obvious reference-point musicians from both sides of the Atlantic such as David Bowie, Pink Floyd, and Spirit, he crafts a distinctive sonic vocabulary all his own, a language that's stark and emotionally precise at times, awe-inspiring and mysterious at others. Tracks of particular note on the self-released indie gem include "I Didn't Know," launched by a growling electric guitar intro into liquid layers of brainy and brawny prog-rock without pretension. "Nothing But Alone" features a gauzy Cullen vocal laid over a galloping folk-rock foundation to stirring effect, and "Air So Empty" explores similar supple melodic territory with an amped up propulsive thrust. In a connected vein flows "Underwater," a pastoral instrumental that showcases trad acoustic grandeur in a taut rhythmic framework. If two songs best capture Cullen's angular approach at its most arresting, they would be "Empty Pockets," an edgy, surge-and-whisper tug of war, and "The Therapy Song," three and a half minutes of tightly coiled menace and snarl. There's no dead air in The Humming Field, only sound with a purpose and enough levels to explore to keep attentive ears engaged for many listens to come." ....................................................... "...After decades of relatively seamless band-hopping, touring, recording and composing with artists like Ray Mason, Amy Fairchild, The Sighs, Ware River Club, Square One, Kevin Salem, Spookie Daly Pride and many others, Cullen has at last blessed us with his first-ever frontman/songwriter effort, The Humming Field. .......................................................
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©2007 Matt Cullen, The Humming Field. Head Vent Music (SESAC). All Rights Reserved.