Scenes Vol. 1

Jeremy Cullen is a New Zealand composer, pianist and sound designer. His music reflects a diverse range of influences - a love of the classical repertoire, the New Zealand environment, his studies in electro-acoustic music and his work as a film composer and sound editor.

As a freelance composer and sound designer, his work has encompassed virtually every type of media including television, game and film projects such as orchestral music editing for composer Howard Shore's score for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

Scenes Vol. 1 is his first solo album and was recorded at Neil Finn's Roundhead Studios in Auckland. The music is drawn from a range of sources including film and documentary scores, piano pieces and electro-acoustic soundscapes, and also features a guest appearance from Russian string players Maria Grigoryeva (viola) and Lyudmila Kadyrbaeva (cello).

"I wanted to find a way to draw together some of the various projects and genres I've been involved with, and to somehow unify the different voices these required. The piano seemed the perfect way to do this as it's my first instrument and such a beautifully versatile machine.

The sound of Scenes is a blend of my influences and heroes such as Russian composers Prokofiev and Shostakovich, contemporary composers Max Richter, Nils Frahm, Arvo Pärt, Michael Nyman and Philip Glass, modern jazz, Erik Satie and the ambient music of Brian Eno - at least that's what it sounds like to me…"