Meursault

Now this is good. Really good. As in, “miss-this-album-and-your-friends-will-laugh-at-you-and-your-children-will-get-cooties” good. Meursault, a Scottish septet led by Neil Pennycook, have produced a genuinely extraordinary record.

Something For The Weakened hangs its hat on Pennycook’s writing and the album production, and both are almost faultless. What you’ve got here is the kind of heartbreakingly beautiful, deeply emotional rock music that other bands only wish they could create.

And then there is, as we said, Pennycook’s writing. It could all have gone so wrong – it could have been trite, even hammy – but he’s a gorgeous songwriter, and a singer with a stunning voice. Whether cutting loose (Flitters, Dull Sparks) or going the slightly more nuanced route (Settling), he’s the beating heart of Meursault.

The band has constructed not just a great album, but possibly the finest of their career. There’s no such thing as a perfect record, but there’s almost nothing wrong with this.

www.songbytoad.com

Rob Boffard