single

It’s not often that I dig out the ol’ vinyl player. If fact, being the fresh faced youth I am, the world of vinyl is one of which I have only a cursory knowledge. Anytime I want to enjoy my (admittedly meagre) 7″ collection I have to drag my dad’s old Pioneer PL-112D turntable out of the attic…

But it does appear that the 7″ is still alive and well. An old flatmate of mine had quite an impressive collection – all released in the last few years – and most singles seem to get a 7″ release alongside the newer formats. These two singles from Song, by Toad Records are available exclusively as vinyl (not counting digitally, which surely doesn’t count these days). The band behind this pair of singles is Meursault, already an Eaten by Monsters favourite owing to their fantastic debut LP, Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues.

Now I gather that William Henry Miller is something of a live favourite for hardcore Meusault fans, but I must admit that when it was finally released (on last years Nothing Broke EP) I wasn’t all that taken with it. To be honest, I wasn’t that taken with the whole EP; I enjoyed it, for sure, but having never seen the band live and getting to know them through their album, the change of direction (from dense electronic soundscapes with a furious energy to a slower, more contemplative acoustic sound) wasn’t what I was looking for. In the months following it’s release Nothing Broke has certainly grown on me, but in my opinion these two new singles mark a welcome return to the more “produced”* sound of Pissing/Kissing. In fact, the B-sides (The Dirt and the Roots and A Few Kind Words respectively) are the same cuts that were used on the album.

And now William Henry Miller Pt. II – a track that sounded decidedly like filler on Nothing Broke – is now the stand out track of both these singles; a feat made doubly impressive when you consider that A Few Kind Words (the Pt. II B-side) was one of my favourite tracks on the album, which was in turn one of my Top 10 Albums of 2008. And Pt. I has undergone a caterpillar/butterfly rebirth as well! The word on the street is that Meursault are on the brink of writing/recording a new album, and if that’s true then I really can’t wait.

Meursault – William Henry Miller Pt. II**

Meursault – A Few Kind Words

And as being as posting both the A-sides would be a bit cheekey, here’s a live version (subtitled Dylan Gives the Clap) that they recorded during last year’s Homegame for The Waiting Room:

Meursault – William Henry Miller Pt. I (live)

*Lazy writing, I know…

**You know the drill: single=no A-side download.

This time last year the musical calendar was looking pretty darned exciting. With albums on the horizon by EbM favourites Broken Records, Emmy the Great, frYars, Esser and The Decemberists I was expecting great things of 2009. Sure enough, 2009 produced some great records and was an all-round “good year for music”, but strangely none of the albums I was so excited about delivered on expectations. All the aforementioned albums were good, but none of them were great, and certainly nowhere near as good as we’d all hoped they would be; hype is truly a terrible thing.

So it is with great trepidation and wariness that I nail my colours to the mast and say that I am really, really looking forward to the upcoming Frightened Rabbit album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks. Of course this will come as no surprise to regular readers who probably have some inkling as to how much I love FR. It seems like this album may be very well timed, as FR did very well in quite a few end-of-decade lists (such as the NME’s and The Skinny’s) and fans have been kept interested throughout 2009 first by the excellent Quietly Now! (a live version of Midnight Organ Fight) and the pre-Christmas single Swim Until You Can’t See Land. This single was our first taste of what to expect from the upcoming album, and very nice it was too. Now we’re being further tempted by another single, Nothing Like You.

This one won’t be released until the 22nd Feb and normally I’d hold off on a review until closer to the release date, but being as the album proper comes out only a few days later (1st March) I can justify getting this one out a little early (and it also shows how cool I must be to be able to get my paws on the single this far ahead of it’s release…*cough*cough*). The B-side, Learned Your Name, is a gentle, sombre affair, trundling along nicely without sparking too much excitement; but then that’s all you ought to expect from a B-side. The A-side, however, is a different story.

With all the great (possibly dangerous?) hype the band have been getting lately, and given the success of Swim…, all this single really needs to do is make sure it doesn’t disappoint. Regardless, Nothing Like You springs from the blocks like it’s got something to prove. It rattles along at a furious pace and does it’s job admirably – it’s more than equal to the quality of the work on Midnight Organ Fight, while at the same time pointing at yet more to come. To hell with my trepidation, 2010 should be fantastic!

Frightened Rabbit – Nothing Like You*