PS I Love You

While this release may be an "indie" record in almost every sense of the term, underlying the frenetic, DIY energy of all ten songs is something less commonly affiliated with that all-too-broad signifier: complete instrumental mastery. For their age, Paul Saulnier and Benjamin Nelson are ludicrously proficient at their craft, especially Saulnier, who's able to stitch together melody, noise and chord structures (not to mention a good number of wailing guitar leads) and have them come off as effortless. The duo demonstrate their musical maturity and good sense by balancing the anthemic and the hard-hitting judiciously. The result is an album that, despite its intensity, is never overbearing and, unlike some Canadian counterparts, never sacrifices the intensity of a song for over-reaching drama. Meet Me at the Muster Station is as complete a debut album as has been released by a Canadian band since Wolf Parade's Apologies to the Queen Mary half-a-decade ago.