Some may deem it premature for a band whose debut album isn't even a year old to be releasing a B-sides/rarities compilation this early in its career. But it's important to remember that PS I Love You essentially began life as a B-side: tucked away on the back half of a split 7" with Diamond Rings' "All Yr Songs", PS I Love You's heart- and-face-melter "Facelove" proved to be every bit as affecting and addictive as its more celebrated A-side, and the heretofore unknown Kingston, Ontario, indie rock duo subsequently parlayed that momentum into a well-received full-length album (2010's Meet Me at the Muster Station) and a non-stop international touring itinerary. So the hasty appearance of Figure It Out represents more than just a stop-gap measure to maintain visibility in an increasingly crowded playing field; more than most bands, PS I Love You understand how a B-side can pave the way to the A-list, and how thin the line is between a forgotten song and a fondly remembered one.
The purpose of Figure It Out is ultimately two-fold: Its first side shines a light on the band's pre-Muster Station origins, while the second brings us up to date on what the band has been up to since the album's release. Though singer/guitarist Paul Saulnier and drummer Benjamin Nelson had previously played together in a Kingston quartet called Magic Jordan, PS I Love You initially began as Saulnier's one-man project, and the five solo demos collected here-- pulled from a CD-R sold at early shows-- stands in stark contrast to the boisterous noise-pop jams heard on Muster. On click-tracked confections like "Subtle and Majestic" and "Actually (I Am a Monster Now)", Saulnier plays with a delicacy that suggests he's being extra careful not to wake up his neighbors, laying off his distortion pedal and singing in an uncharacteristically soft tremble, while the Neil Youngian acoustic ditty "Notes and Stuff" suggests a few dues paid at coffeehouse open-mic nights. We also hear skeletal, drum-machined versions of two future Muster Station standards, which are ultimately more interesting as historical artifacts than stand-alone tracks-- though the instrumental arrangements for "Facelove" and "Scattered" are more or less mapped out already, you can hear Saulnier stretching the limits of his one-man-band set-up, and begging for a more bombastic treatment that he just can't achieve on his own.
Side two brings us back to familiar, present-tense territory. PS I Love You confidently navigate the spectrum from the ridiculous to the righteous, shifting between the endearingly stoopid Pixies karaoke of "Starfield" (which celebrates what is presumably the ultimate sci-fi geek fantasy of "fuck-fuck-fucking on the back of a flying space lion") and the gleaming, majestic Diamond Rings collaboration "Leftovers". In tandem, these songs reinforce what PS I Love You do so well: They handle the silly and serious stuff with equal conviction and drown them both in so much volume and distortion that you're not sure which side they're playing on anymore.
Figure It Out's two cover selections may seem unlikely, but they adhere to the same fuzzy logic. On a sandblasted makeover of Madonna's "Where's the Party" Saulnier yelps out the chorus with the creepy suggestiveness of someone who's probably been blocked from the Facebook invitation list. And though Rush's stern-faced, suburban-outcast portrait "Subdivisions" fits right into PS I Love You's thematic wheelhouse, their reasonably faithful version actually works best as a comedic exercise in how freakin' hard it is to cover a Rush song-- Saulnier and Nelson variously leave out certain changes altogether or add in extra bars as if they needed more time to catch their breath. Though Figure It Out's title is taken from "Starfield", its sentiment rings most true here: Saulnier and Nelson know they're no Alex Lifeson or Neil Peart, but as their career up to this point has shown, they sure know how to make the most of their limited means.
