Meursault‘s Nothing Broke was one of my favourite EPs of this year, and the delightfully consistent Song, by Toad Records have just released a couple of 7″ singles  on transparent vinyl to close out the year. Oh yes they look very pretty indeed, but it’s the music that you’re reading this for and Meursault do not disappoint.

The singles each contain a song from their December 2008 album Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues as well as a full version of William Henry Miller Pt.1 and 2 respectively, re-recorded with new band members Pete Harvey (cello) and Phil Quirie (electric guitar) on board, and with guest vocals from Dan Willson from Withered Hand and Bart Owl from eagleowl.

The new recording of WHM Pt.1 feels one hell of a lot different to the first time I heard it on Nothing Broke. The original was quite a chripy bit of foot tapping folk, whilst this is something more spacious, more emotional – a record that deserves to be listened to whilst curled up in front of that winter fire as it soothes your wary soul.

Pt. 2 could always soundtrack the rebirth of a broken soul, but the cello and heavier melodic static gives the song a darker twist. The transfixing inner torment as a heart is laid open.

As for the B-sides, A Few Kind Words and The Dirt & the Roots were two of my personal highlights from their album, so if you haven’t got them already on that, you really really should do on this. You’ve been warned.

[BUY] William Henry Miller Pt.1/The Dirt & The Roots as MP3s @ Amazon MP3 | iTunes
[BUY] William Henry Miller Pt.2/A Few Kind Words as MP3s @ Amazon MP3 | iTunes

[BUY] On beautiful clear vinyl from Song, by Toad Records WHM Pt.1/TDTR and WHM Pt.2/AFKW or buy them both together for a cracking Christmas present for a musically inclined relative.

Meursault – A Few Kind Words
Meursault – William Henry Miller Pt.1 (Single version)

Oh, and for those wondering who this William Henry Miller is that has had the honour of two songs written in his name, he was a politician in the 1800s, and possibly a hermaphrodite, which may have been related to his desire to be buried face down, forty feet beneath a gigantic mausoleum in Craigentinny. It’s a bizarre story to begin with, and probably unlikely material for a single pop song, never mind two, but the mausoleum (now somewhat surreally surrounded by bungalows) is an amazing sight.