When Song, by Toad drops Meursault in your inbox…

…you just can’t stop playing it, everywhere you go. I mean I turn on Meursault’s album, Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing with Tongues, in the car… in the house… on my ipod in bed… on my computer while I work. I keep twittering how I’m soaking in it. And readers, I am. Soaking. In it.

Disclaimer #1. I love Scottish music pop/rock/indie/synth/folk, whatever you wish to label this. I’ve always loved that sound that is so decidedly not American, and so decidedly not British…from The Bay City Rollers (eek!) to The Skids, to Simple Minds, to The Jesus and Mary Chain, to Texas, (and even Glasvegas, tho I know Matthew will likely hate me for saying so). Meursault fits the bill. There’s just enough there that’s not quite been colonized, and god bless em for that.

Disclaimer #2. Reverb/distortion makes me writhe in ecstasy and Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing with Tongues uses reverb/distortion like an experienced dominatrix uses her whip. In other, cleaner, words this album is pure delight, balanced and proportioned in a way that keeps you paying attention to the highs and lows. At times you strain to make out the wonderful lyrics – the words of longing and pining for love or musings on a millionaire (!) – at others you find yourself falling away at the end of a song, let down only to be revived by the beginning of the next, gorgeous tune. And throughout, the band plays, roiling and cascading around Neil Pennycook’s wailing vocals. I love the sound the band makes to offset and compliment his voice and they use reverb and distortion masterfully to do so.

Now for the pure adoration of that which is Meursault. It’s difficult to categorize music today. Indie/folk/rock or perhaps syntho-pop, maybe folkish-synth/rock, tonight I have settled on “indysnthfolk”. It’s not all bright, it’s not all dark, it’s not particularly acoustic or synth-laden, nor is it danceable entirely or something you want to pull up a chair to watch if you had the chance to see them live, I’m guessing. These kids these days, they just give you everything. This band is versatile, this band seems well traveled, this band can do much. And this album showcases what Meursault is capable of doing.  As a debut, it’s exactly what it should be, and that something is truly marvelous.

Aside from Pennycook’s penetrating tenor voice, electric guitars, drums, synthesizers, and a multitude of instruments create some truly memorable music. The synthesizer plays such a simple line, but it’s the perfect addition to the jingly jangly guitar work and the folksy tune found on tracks like “Salt 1″, “Pissing on Bonfires, Kissing with Tongues”, and “The Dirt and the Roots.” These are such pure and beautiful folk inspired idie tunes I have to check the track listing to make sure I’ve not confused them with other music I’ve been listening to, – that’s how much of a home they’ve found in me. It seems as if I’ve been listening to them for years now. But at the same time, the sound is purely Meursault and that is the key to this band’s genius.

The Furnace mp3 “The Furnace” is the one that rambles through my head all day long. I have this picture in my head of a cacophony of sound, a field of crazy dancers and so much sound, and arms in the air, and just a huge amount of light and joy. This song is evocative, it’s very simple in it’s complexity and it just feels like pure fucking genius!

A Small Stretch Of Land mp3 Other songs, like “A Small Stretch of Land” seems like it was written so long ago, like it has traveled around with someone for years and years and somehow has found itself on this album this year. It’s eerie, it echoes in your ears and Pennycook’s voice breaks just a wee bit, just enough to make it real. If the whole album were like this it would be too much, but as an accent this tune provides a nice relief to the rest and makes me hope that Meursault finds their way to Chicago soon.

Go stuff someone’s stocking with a copy of Meursault’s Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing with Tongues and help this band’s debut really make a mark this season. It’s a solid piece of work, it’s a beautifully impressive album that gives us the best of the Edinburgh sound, no… scratch that… the best of Edinburgh’s indysnthfolk sound.

Buy it here.