Face the love

Far from unfamiliar with the Limestone City, PS I Love You is returning with a debut record

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Paul Saulnier and Benjamin Nelson make up the guitar, bass pedal and drum duo that is PS I Love You. Paul yelps and screams over his feedback and fuzz drenched guitar while Ben hammers out the driving drum lines. The songs are simultaneously lo-fi and anthemic, catchy and noisy, and they embody everything that indie rock has come to represent.

PS I Love You is made up of Kingston locals but they’re currently on tour in support of their debut full-length, Meet Me at the Muster Station. The band returns home to headline a Halloween show on Oct. 30 at The Mansion with longtime friend and collaborator, Toronto-based artist Diamond Rings.

Saulnier caught up with the Journal for a phone interview while on the road. He took the time to discuss growing up in Kingston and his band’s rise with an album that has garnered much critical praise. However, this success clearly hasn’t gone to their heads and despite their recent acclaim, Saulnier said they have “no plans to move.”

“Both of us grew up there and it’s close to all the cities but small enough to be cozy and good,” Saulnier said. The town informs all the songs that he writes and plays. As he put it, “You can do a tour [of the town] with the songs and find out what we’re all about.”

The connection runs deep. For example, the Muster Station is a nautical reference to the part of the Wolfe Island Ferry where people gather in case of emergency. Also, the carefully assembled 10 songs run a similar length to the ferry ride.

The songs draw much of their emotional power from a strong connection to a physical space. Paul explains that the themes of Muster Station are “sort of mixed together. Love and all the good and bad things that come with that and how it relates to the places in Kingston.”

The band’s sound has been compared to a variety of different artists. For one thing, because they’re from a town better known for its universities and penitentiaries than its music scene, fellow Kingston natives and Canadian juggernaut The Tragically Hip are often name-dropped in a discussion of PS I Love You.

Saulnier said he likes the comparison, but at the same time he doesn’t entirely relate. “They’re obviously a wicked rock band, but of a different era” he said. “[This is] something new, it’s just a coincidence we’re both from Kingston. It’s cool to be compared to them but we’re not trying to follow in any musical footsteps.”

A more apt stylistic comparison would be with something in the same vein, like classic alternative rock bands the Pixies or Dinosaur Jr. In response to this, Saulnier says that it’s “not really a sound we’re going for, but a sound that just happens … It’s a bit like an amalgamation of everything I like and our own sound apart from that.”

A technically proficient electric guitar player, he’s capable of some seriously face melting shredding.

“My guitar playing style is very informed by a teenage obsession with Jimi Hendrix, one of the greatest electric guitar players of all time—kind of a given.” But PS I Love You subtly incorporates many influences into a unique distillation.

The video for the single “Facelove”, which originally appeared as a B-side on a seven-inch release with Diamond Rings, is a perfect homage to the video for “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division. Paul explains that the reason for the nod was “fandom but also because in the video for “Love Will Tear Us Apart” they show the sort of warehouse in Manchester they rehearsed in and wrote their songs. We have a similar setup in Kingston where we play in a warehouse that’s sort of decrepit. Making music in this environment that’s cold and crumbling apart, we have that connection to Joy and where they made that video.”

The latest triumphs for PS I Love You include an 8.1 out of 10 rating on Pitchfork, a site notorious for being able to make and break bands. Saulnier said that it’s been great to get that kind of acknowledgment.

“I’ve been reading Pitchfork since 1997. It’s cool to be a part of that and get some recognition from that world. But it’s also kind of scary in a way; it’s a big world to jump into.” They’ve also recently done a spot on the bill of the highly respected CMJ (College Music Journal) Music Marathon in New York City.

In Brooklyn they played six shows in three days. “We didn’t get a chance to see a lot of bands,” Paul says about their visit there. “It would have been cool to go as a fan, but we were busy working. We had some really well attended shows after touring parts of America where no one’s heard of us yet.”

It’s an exciting time for PS I Love You, but an anxious one for their guitar player. Paul’s take on their recent success is that the band is “definitely ready for it, but sometimes I worry we’ll put out a crappy album and everyone will hate us.” Of course, he may be worried for nothing. With their fan base on the rise and the critics praising their album, it looks like PS I Love You is moving nowhere but up.

PS I Love You play The Mansion tomorrow with Diamond Rings, Agpak Mum and Switchyard Sullivan.

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