By Joseph Mullen
Many words can describe the sound of PUP’s new album: Hostile. Anger. Aggressive. PUP’s bleak yet optimistic look on life and the hardships of being a band can be heard in this album. The up and coming punk band’s new album, Morbid Stuff, is a step forward for the Toronto-based quartet as they pen songs about touring, relationships, nihilism, and, well, other morbid stuff.
The album begins with a genuine ripper. The titular track starts with the following lyrics: “I was bored as fuck / Sitting around and thinking all this morbid stuff / Like if anyone I’ve slept with is dead and I got stuck/ On death and dying and obsessive thoughts that won’t let up/ It makes me feel like I’m about to throw up.”
Morbid stuff is an understatement. PUP isn’t shy in this regard. They get right to the point of the album very early in. The frustrations of dating and relationships in 2019 can render one null and void and PUP nails this feeling home. The track ends with a cry for help as we hear PUP struggle with the end of a relationship: “I still dream about you time and time again/ While I’ve been sleeping in somebody else’s bed/ And as my body aged, the feeling, it never did.” The struggle for feeling accepted and a pessimistic view on life continues on the next track, “Kids.”
“Kids” is a complicated song. Per frontman Stefan Babcock, the track can be described as, “It’s about what happens when you stumble across the only other person on the face of this godless, desolate planet that thinks everything is as twisted and as fucked up as you do. And thanks to them, the world starts to seem just a little less bleak.”
The first verse of the track details this well: “Just like the kids I’ve been navigating my way/ Through the mind-numbing reality of a godless existence / Which, at this point in my hollow and vapid life / Has erased what little ambition I’ve got left / And I’ve embraced the calamity / With an attachment and a passive disinterest / Living out the back of my ’97 Camry / Wondering how the hell I got myself into this.” The chorus details the finding of the other person who shares a same view on life: “I guess it doesn’t matter anyway / I don’t care about nothing but you / I guess it doesn’t matter anyway / Cause I don’t care about nothing / I don’t care about nothing but you / No, I don’t care about nothing.”
Morbid Stuff can be described as the sun; bright and cheery but it’s going to blow up one day. With PUP’s junior effort, they continue what was established in The Dream is Over and have advanced their sound to create an album full of bangers for a generation that struggles with motivation and acceptance.
