Album Review - PS I Love You: Death Dreams

PS I Love You
Death Dreams
Rating: Woof Daddy

Life in your 20s is simultaneously messy, scary, boring, annoying, and thrilling. Everything seems to happen all at once, and yet never goes as fast as you want it to, with every minor problem seemingly life changing. I, for one, have no desire to relive those days, but they are fruitful times for most artists, where you are trying to figure everything out. With Canadian indie-rock duo PS I Love You, the success of their first album Meet Me At The Muster Station, and subsequent lengthy tour, drove guitarist/singer Paul Saulnier into some pretty dark places. Indeed, his dreams focused on death and mortality, leading to the album title, and overall squalling gloom that hangs over the record. Death Dreams is filled with lyrics about death, doubt, self-loathing, and impermanence of relationships. On paper it sounds like a heavy, oppressive album, but the music is always at the forefront, masking the hurt and pain with waves and waves of guitars.

The album begins with the title instrumental track, which flows along on dreamy guitar swells before hurrying into the rapid "Sentimental Dishes," a bruising crush of power chords and half screamed vocals. The titular dishes being more than physical plates, but stand-ins for recriminations and regrets, with the knowledge that "you got to keep them... for the rest of your life."



Lead single and standout track "Don't Go" features a wondrously yelping vocal from Saulnier, sounding like the lovechild of Frank Black. Strangely, the track evokes The Pixies, Rush, and Slowdive all in one fail swoop. The track gets more and more ramped up and frenetic as it goes, Saulnier screaming "This is the worst week of my life/in one day I lost all that I loved."



The world weighs heavy in this world with Saulnier lamenting in "Future Dontcare," "I wish this summer was like last summer/Love doesn't care about the future/All I ever wanted/is more than I ever ever had," while the guitars swoop and shimmer trying to drown out his sorrows. And Saulnier obviously has no love lost for a girl in "Saskatoon" who "pulled out her hammer/broke open my chest/pulled out all the guts" with the guitars and drums as messy as the relationship turned out.



The music here does a lot to dispel the rather gloomy lyrics, favoring guitar raveups over introspective textures. The three track flow of "How Do You," "Princess Towers," and "Red Quarter" are textbook examples of how to build and release tension within a limited palate of guitars and drums. "Red Quarter" begins tightly coiled before springing to life with a massive wailing guitar solo.



Death Dreams is a rambling, shambling mess of a record, all echoing the themes and feel of the record. Yes, Saulnier's vocals are an acquired taste, but somehow always seem to suit the mood. There is a furious sense of pace and purpose to these songs, rushing over any and all speedbumps to get to its destination. Better still, there is a sense of life here, even in all its pain and sometimes misery; Saulnier seems to understand that you really don't experience life fully without it. Death Dreams is his testament to that fact.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.