Meet Me At The Muster Station

Either you like massive distorted guitar sound or you don't. If you do, this album will be an addictive pleasure. It is for me, reminding me more of Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream than any other recent or indie album I could name. The tidal wave of electrified sound is enough to make me forgive the vocals, which sound like a fight between a sheep and a puppy.

It really is a mystery why the band members of this Canadian indie rock outfit from Kingston, Ontario contrived to have the same name of "that book" which led in addition to that execrable film where Gerald Butler's Irish accent was every bit the equal of Dick Van Dyke's infamous mauling of a cockney dialect. But setting this to one side it is also the case that "Meet me at the muster station" makes up for this nomenclature clanger in spades. Indeed "PS I love You" like their Vancouver contemporaries Japandroids make a big impressive cacophony. They are a bunch of first class honours related dedicated noise merchants and like the Droids they are a unlikely looking duo, with Paul Saulnier on vocals/guitar and Benjamin Nelson on drums. Reference point here include the White Stripes, Dinosaur Jr and especially the Pixies but overall there is enough new slants on this album of no fuss guitar rock music to make it almost unique in a year when the keyboard seems to be dominating some of the more high profile releases.As a sucker for any band that throughly learnt their trade in a garage this album is characteristically short in length touching about 30 minutes but it makes up for this in quality. Please if you do nothing else you should commence with "Facelove" a brilliant standout track with an tempestuous riff, a great vocal and a guitar wig out half way through which will trouble your neighbours well in "2012' which is also the name of another track highlight this time with the joint vocals of the band members dominating. One of the longer tracks at three minutes plus is "Butterflies and Boners" which starts with huge squalls of feedback and a riff so evil it should require an exorcism. Again half way through it goes off into a another great unhinged guitar work out. You probably get the direction of travel of this album by now but on your way seek out "Starfield" where Saulnier does a great Win Butler impression and sings a set a lyrics which would people of high morals enjoying their outrage. Obviously after a while it becomes apparent that its a song about having sex on the back of a flying space lion! The title track remarkably has a riff which somehow Keith Richards missed and would certainly please the old reprobate should he ever venture back to Canada which did cause him the odd problem a few years back. My firm advice therefore is to beg, borrow or steal "Meet me at the Muster Station" since a noisy fuzz rock love affair beckons.

Half the time in this album, I have no clue what the lead singer is saying. I feel like he might be intending to mock Brit Glam-ish rock vocals (Meet Me at Muster Station and parts of Get Over), but most times he sounds drunk (Little Spoon) or in the shower (Meet Me at Muster Station Pt 2) or drunk in the shower (Bread Ends) -there is this liberated, I don't give a f, nobody is around, I'm naked in the shower type methodology in the vocals. (All of this is praise by the way if you can't tell.) That particular vocal methodology lends itself to playfulness, but never at the expense of the emotion or raw power delivered, which I feel happens alot when bands attempt this big rock sound. In case you are wondering, the distorted sound IS huge. I mean it sounds MASSIVE. The distortion never hides a thing though and there is never any filler as every song feels concisely delivered and every element lends itself to a sense of purpose in the overall momentum of each song.4.5 out of 5 if you ask me. it's been a while since I had an album on repeat and I hardly even realized it.

Top notch album. one of my favorites