Meursault
Meursault played at End Of The Road Festival 2010.
Meursault formed a few years ago when Neil Pennycook started to add musicians to his solo act. He made one abortive start before forming a settled band with Fraser Calder, Chris Bryant and Callum McLeod.
They released an EP around the time that this lineup was coalescing, but it ended up being representative of a band who had yet to really get a feel for what they wanted to sound like and where they were going with their music. But by the time they released Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues, first as a self-release in April 2008, then again on Song, by Toad Records in December of the same year, they had developed a very distinctive character based around a shifting interplay of electronic and traditional instruments.
Earlier this year Phil Quirie and Pete Harvey joined, on guitars and cello respectively. This more layered, complex sound is evident on the pair of 7″ singles released in December (William Henry Miller Parts One and Two on double a-sides with A Few Kind Words and The Dirt & the Roots respectively), and with them came wider acclaim, as the singles were awarded single of the week on Drowned in Sound. With a new album, a ten minute long single planned for release later in the year, and a collaborative album with King Creosote and Animal Magic Tricks also due out, they seem like a band who are determined to keep experimenting.