Meursault

Meursault, a Scottish indie-folk group, originated in 2006 in Penicuik, the birthplace of singer and songwriter Neil Pennycook on the fringes of Edinburgh. The project took its name from the central figure in Albert Camus’s novel L’Etranger, a book Pennycook particularly admired. Pennycook began performing solo under the name before recruiting further musicians to accommodate the expanding musical direction. By 2008 the configuration had stabilized as a six-piece of multi-instrumentalists—Fraser Calder, Calum MacLeod, Phillip Quirie, Pete Harvey, and Gavin Tarling. The larger ensemble enabled Pennycook to move beyond the purely acoustic material with which he had started. Guitars, ukulele, and banjos were now combined with synthesizers and electronic drums to shape the band’s distinctive texture.

Several songs for the debut album Pissing On Bonfires/Kissing with Tongues were captured on the living-room floor of a borrowed flat, lending the material a warm, lo-fi character that complemented its D.I.Y. indie-folk sensibility. The record appeared first as a self-released item in 2008 and then received an official release the following year on the Scottish label Song by Toad. All Creatures Will Make Merry, issued in 2010, earned widespread critical approval and received airplay from Marc Riley on BBC Radio 6 as well as on BBC Radio Scotland. The exposure led to an intensive summer of dates that included a national tour and appearances at the festivals RockNess, T in the Park, and Glastonbury. Something for the Weakened, released in 2012, stepped away from the electronic and synth-driven elements of earlier work in favor of expansive string arrangements and lyrical melodies.