D. Cullen – City Soundscapes (2025)
D. Cullen has made a name for himself on the Dublin music scene with a series of albums that have chronicled his many influences, along with the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist’s penchant for drama. Starting with his The New 52 project through material under his current moniker, Cullen’s melodies soar with such an indelible, show-tune structure that you can practically see the main character walking to centre stage, arms uplifted. No doubt we hear The Beatles influence (The New 52 released a faithful cover of ‘Helter Skelter’ in 2018) and Queen (Cullen’s melody on ‘I Don’t Know Anybody Like You (In This World)’ from Sing My Story, Tell My Song softly channels Freddie Mercury); but on his new album, City Soundscapes, Cullen writes a love letter to the music he grew up hearing.
Rooted in the rock sound of the late 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, Cullen doesn’t just settle into the style but enthuses over the era’s loud guitars, big drums, and catalytic emotion. He calls City Soundscapes his best album to date, and he’s not wrong. Beginning to end, the album remains steadfast to its inspiration, recalling the time in a way that makes the music seem familiar without straying into flattery or flattery’s unreliable twin, parody.
Whether it’s the increasing emphasis on a contrastive major chord that makes ‘Diffuse Reflection’ the hardest-hitting song on the record or the kaleidoscopic swirl of the title track (which sounds like the big production number of a cheery musical about the end of the world), the structures of his songs compel you to think bigger than three chords and the truth. Many of the songs are carefully insistent, balancing quiet moments with loud, distorted guitars.
‘There Will Come a Time’ opens the album with a long, fluid melody that resolutely builds to a big finish. “Like a leaf in the wind/ I will follow again/ All the things I have said/ In my own little head,” sings Cullen, setting up so many of the songs that sit in the uncertain territory between action and regret. On the bouncy ‘You Were Not My Friend’, Cullen gives the theme a whimsical turn, dramatising someone meeting a school bully years after life has given him perspective. He also delves into it a little more directly and personally on ‘Failure to Launch’, which explores the emotional cost of pursuing an unlikely dream while seeing U2’s epic moments and raising them with strings.
‘Young Men’ was City Soundscapes’ first single for good reason. Cullen takes a nuanced look at the culture of certain young men stuck in an embittered rut. “Get a drink, pick a fight/ There’s always someone not to like,” Cullen sings with an eye toward online amplification of easy anger and poisonous attitudes. But instead of fighting fire with fire, as so many others have done, Cullen goes for a humanising approach that eschews blame and shifts the burden of understanding to the listener.
City Soundscapes is a finely crafted album that gives you the feeling of a narrative without being a concept album. From the ironic use of synthesisers to the varying levels of distortion over Cullen’s voice, to the purple plaid shirt he wears on the cover photo, everything seems carefully thought out and deliberately placed. This is the kind of record that you look forward to coming across in a way that has nothing to do with its style. I have no nostalgia for the musical period Cullen enshrines here, but I love a smart, snappy record, and this one gets high marks.
Find out more about D. Cullen on his official website, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok and Spotify.
Listen to more alternative rock music on The Other Side Reviews Alternative Rock playlist:
