Let’s be thankful that PS I Love You are better at writing songs than they are at picking band names. While the moniker is ripe for ridicule, the 10 tracks that make up Meet Me At The Muster Station demand far more respect.
Hailing from Kingston, Ontario, vocalist/guitarist and bass pedal player Paul Saulnier and drummer Benjamin Nelson make fuzzy, lo-fi garage rock that’s inevitably going to draw comparisons to Vancouver rockers Japandroids and L.A. punks No Age. It’s not totally unwarranted—they’ve got the frenetic energy and youthful abandon of the former and the noisier qualities of the latter, plus there’s the “duo” angle to work—but there’s more to it than that. Songs like “2012” and “Get Over” show Saulnier’s knack for guitar hooks while “Butterflies and Boners” and the buzz-creating “Facelove” feature full-on stadium-sized guitar solos. The tunes become all the more impressive when you realize it’s just two dudes responsible for all of that noise.
Vocally, Saulnier plays kid brother to Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug, with screams, yelps, and warbles that up the album’s “weird” factor. But being buried way, way back in the mix, and aside from a couple moments of clarity, it’s damn near impossible to pick out any lyrical narrative or sentiment. It’s frustrating—these songs are so urgent and impassioned that you want to sing along, but you don’t know what the hell they’re saying.
