Hearing the second album from Edinburgh band Meursault will inevitably cause comparisons to be drawn with more established Scottish acts such as The Twilight Sad and (early) Frightened Rabbit, who have made their names by belting out ultra-dour yet energetic anthems. Such connection-making is understandable, but this doesn't mean that Meursault don't have their own unique story to tell. This album helps to characterise the band as a notable addition to this family of promising Scottish players.
The production style here is relatively unusual when considering the aforementioned bands. Meursault sound more lo-fi than a lot of their contemporaries, at times sharing aural similarities with influential American indie-folk artists, the most notable of which is Mount Eerie/The Microphones who inspired Neil Pennycook's production on this record. Instead of creating soundscapes which evoke the autumn season, Meursault set up a distinct wintery tone with their music. The short introductory track "Payday" effectively creates a mood which is dour and dreary with the odd spark of optimism. The album continues very much in this vein. "Crank Resolutions" is a single-worthy song that manages to sound simultaneously weary and confident. The electronics are like hailstones or raindrops with Pennycook fighting through them and marching on, crooning 'I walked past the houses/of every friend I'd ever known/and I set off on my own'. He sounds distant in the mix, but voluntarily so, and instead of being drowned out or downplayed he is determined and in control.
There are a variety of instruments used on All Creatures Will Make Merry which all wash together to make an airy experience which is never short on intensity. Meursault make use of the banjo, ukulele, drum machine and strings among other things, and these all help to establish a strong sense of emotion. The more heavily textured tracks are immediate, yet on the stripped-down tracks like "One Day this'll all be Fields" and "Another", the desired effects are still achieved and the feelings this album teases out don't drain away until the whole thing has run its course.
It will be interesting to see where Meursault will go from here. All Creatures Will Make Merry is a genuinely satisfying self-contained snowglobe, but anything too similar in the future would feel like an unnecessary sequel. As a stand-alone piece, though, this album eventually reveals itself to be carefully thought out and seriously moving- an ideal companion to solitude.
"All Creatures Will Make Merry" is out now on Song, By Toad.
"It will be interesting to see where Meursault will go from here. All Creatures Will Make Merry is a genuinely satisfying self-contained snowglobe, but anything too similar in the future would feel like an unnecessary sequel."
ReplyDeleteI strongly disagree. Neil's song writing is second to none.
Oh no, that quote has nothing to do with the songwriting - it's the sonics/production style I'm referring to there - that wintry/cold sound that it keeps reminding me of and executes so well, much in the same way that Mount Eerie or The Microphones capture the feeling of Autumn... It's a fine line between the two but Meursault pulled it off here... The album is near perfect for what it is; it's the right length and says exactly what it needs to say without being either too short or long-winded. I near enough have nothing negative to say about this album.
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