Edinburgh’s Meursault released their debut album, Pissing On Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues back in 2008, and have since released two more brilliant albums, All Creatures Will Make Merry and Something For The Weakened. Despite this impressive back catalogue, and heaps of critical acclaim, the band have never toured America. Well all that is about to change thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign which has helped fund a trip to SXSW and subsequent east coast tour.
That’s all very exciting for American fans or those braving the trip to Texas, but why should the rest of us take notice? The answer lies in the ingenious method of fundraising that the band used along with the good folks over at Song, by Toad Records. The basic premise was that anyone who pledged support to the Kickstarter campaign was asked to vote for up to five songs that they would like to hear the band play on a specially produced album. And they weren’t limited to Meursault songs, suggestions of covers were welcomed.
The result is a pseudo-covers album (pseudo as there are a couple of re-imagined Meursault tracks thrown in too, such as the re-worked version of ‘Dearly Distracted’ in the player below), which has been wonderfully captured and produced. It must also be said that Meursault fans have great taste, with some of my all-time favourite songs making it onto the album (see ‘No Children’ by Mountain Goats and Wolf Parade’s ‘I’ll Believe In Anything’ in particular).
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/135828576″]
Each track has its merits, and I really don’t think there’s a dud amongst the fourteen strong collection. A personal favourite is the cover of Chad VanGaalen’s ‘Rabid Bits of Time’, which is perfectly suited to Neil Pennycook’s emotive vocals.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/135828585″]
You can get the album now via Song, by Toad Records.