Every Record I Own: Pup – The Dream is Over
Put this on when I was making dinner and then when it was over i put it on again cos I wasn’t done.
I first listened to Pup after seeing the boy from Stranger Things in a music video of theirs, which was about pets dying. It is a great video and an even better song. Then I listened to the rest of the album and I couldn’t stop listening. This album spent months on near constant rotation on streaming. It’s probably one of my all time fave albums.
Every single part of this band is catchy. Every riff, every drum fill, all the shouts. The songs have a bit of a formula but over the course of the album it feels like there is movement through the album where the songs grow in complexity and emotionally (but not completely linearly)
I soundtracked my life with this record for years. My Life is Over and I Couldn’t be Happier was the intro song to my 2018 Comedy Festival show Dignity. Can’t Win had a prime spot in my emotions 2019 playlist. Sleep in the Heat was my most played song in 2017. It’s all sort of self loathing but not in a bad way, in a fun way which was perfect for me.
I don’t listen to this band anywhere near as much as I used to. But every time I do I wonder why I don’t listen much. Feels so cathartic listening to it loudly. I can’t shout but pretending to shout along feels so good. I love owning this record because it means I will keep coming back to it and I’ll keep having this rediscovery.
EAMONN MARRA 