PS I Love You @ The Cockpit

PS I Love You
Cockpit, Leeds
May 2011

As I made my way upstairs to the sound of Sonny and the Sunsets uplifting tones I had every reason to be optimistic about the night as there was a good crowd watching the support act who hail from San Francisco. Sonny and the Sunsets provided an enjoyable set and played songs that sounded just as at home in the darkness of The Cockpit as their native San Francisco.

Shortly afterwards Canadian two piece PS I Love You take to the stage on the second night of their UK tour. The band has recently released their excellent debut album, Meet Me At The Muster Station, which has also been receiving rave reviews. Given this critical acclaim I was surprised when I turned round when the band came on to discover only six other people in the room, especially as there was many more than that for the support band.

Despite this PS I Love You were undeterred and gave a blistering performance. The noise that they make is also really impressive and the smaller venues are always more inviting towards bands made up of lesser numbers. This is mostly down to frontman Paul Saulnier who gives a mesmerising performance as he plays guitar while singing and as well as this he is playing bass with his foot pedals, all of which he does extremely well throughout.

Given that their debut is so good and they are obviously giving great performances I could only imagine that the band’s image is not deemed ‘cool’ enough by the fickle music industry. PS I Love You are still a young band though so hopefully they will be given time to pick up more of a fan base and their album as well as live shows come highly recommended.

Matthew Hill