For Those Who Stay, by PS I Love YouVanessa Heins
Working for the first time in a proper studio – at the Tragically Hip's popular Bathouse Recording Studio in Bath, Ont. – the PS I Love You twosome of drummer Benjamin Newman and singer, guitarist and effect-pedal aficionado Paul Saulnier made full use of the facilities.
The duo's third (and best) album is awash with the vocal yelping and fuzzy-sludgy guitar sounds of its predecessors, but the textures are richer, the touches are nuanced and the plucked folk-blues depression of Bad Brain Day is a gentle left turn.
Saulnier's lyrics tell stories of his anxieties. His axe and his voice sing the same tune, eliciting sympathy, not sadness. "I'm sorry I forgot about that thing I was supposed to do last week," is the album's opening line. Young Saulnier worries too much, but such is his sensitive soul.
Brad Wheeler