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Locals who have been thrilled to see Mahurangi-based singer Peter McMillan perform his acclaimed Leonard Cohen tribute shows, will be delighted to learn that his son has also taken to the stage and released his first album.
This month, Michael Llewellyn dropped Oh My Darling – a 10-track album of original songs telling personal stories of love and loss – and he was due to kick off a North Island tour, accompanied by his band The Darlings.
They were due to play at the Leigh Sawmill Café next month but have had to postpone until early next year due to Covid.
Michael describes the album as “raspy and poetic” and says, just like his father, he has been influenced a lot by Leonard Cohen and also The Velvet Underground.
Michael grew up in Warkworth, and attended Mahurangi College before enrolling as a student at Otago University.
His passion in life was snowboarding and surfing, but ill-health forced him to move back in with his parents at McKinney Road, where he began to write songs, some of which now feature on the album.
Michael says during that time his body was rapidly deteriorating. He suffered excruciating neck pain that prevented him performing the simplest of tasks, and top New Zealand specialists appeared unable to help him.
“Anxious swirling thoughts – paralysing fears – were knocking at my door,” he says.
In desperation, Michael flew to the United States, where he sought the help of a group of holistic healers, who began treating him seven hours a day and looking into his diet, exercise and state of mind
He returned to New Zealand feeling much better, although his girlfriend, Mikaela, left him shortly afterwards. Meanwhile, Michael moved to Taranaki where he continued to write songs.
“It seemed that all the energy and obsession I formerly poured into surfing and snowboarding had found its roots in music. I wrote and I wrote,” he says.
Michael later moved to Wellington where he set about getting a band together and recording much of the album in his “shoebox bedroom – carpet drenched in guitar leads”.
