All posts tagged Song By Toad

Supermoon – Death To Meursault

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I’ve spent the past month in a peaceful winter hibernation, and it seems like so many of you have been doing the same. I’m not entirely sure where this year is going to take me yet… but I can, at last, see enough sunlight breaking through the folds in my curtain to feel positive and re-energised.

The first artist to really engage me in 2015 is Supermoon, the new project from Edinburgh’s Neil Pennycook. Standout track Death To Meursault makes (murderous) reference to his previous band, although don’t be fooled by this wry gesture… Supermoon is not so much of a creative departure, more a quiet evolution.

Meursault were a big favourite of mine, releasing three albums of material together, each one a work of understated magnificence. Often compared to Scottish peers Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad… Meursault’s revolving cast of musicians received plenty of critical acclaim, but never quite found the wider audience they truly deserved.

Pennycook was always the beating heart of Meursault; his intimate and warm nature often at odds with the intensity and sadness found in his work. It is this compelling dichotomy that will no doubt propel Supermoon to be a beautiful success… one that hopefully shines bigger and brighter than ever before.

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https://www.facebook.com/supermoonuk

Phill Young

David Thomas Broughton & Juice – In Service

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David Thomas Broughton has always been an enigma – his first record ‘The Complete Guide To Insufficiency'(2005) was a complex creation, an intimate collection of material that certainly deserved it’s critical acclaim. The haunting sadness of ‘An Ever Rotating Sky’ will long stay in the memory, swirling in tension… Broughton’s hypnotic vocal resembling Antony Hegarty with a Yorkshire lilt; his delivery always captivating.

Now residing in Seoul, South Korea, his recorded output often seemed a little at odds with his live performances… which are confrontational and at times awkwardly weird. But look beyond this initially theatrical exterior, and you can start to relate his behaviour with the inwardly intense themes of his music. ‘In Service’ taken from the forthcoming album ‘Sliding The Same Way'(Song By Toad Records) is a self-conscious and introspective display of his own failings. Made in collaboration with The Juice Vocal Ensemble and recorded together in a few hours in David’s home town of Otley, this semi-improvised track is a marriage made in heaven, wrapped up in a devastating and reflective beauty.

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Pre-Order here: http://songbytoadrecords.com/david-thomas-broughton/sliding-the-same-way/

https://www.facebook.com/davidthomasbroughton

Phill Young