Never underestimate the cathartic power of a little negative thinking. After all, it got a lot of us through the ’80s. And now it’s making a winning comeback thanks to Moncton, NB, melancholia merchant Dillon Ryan and his band, The Dream Romantic, who’ve taken a refreshingly old school-stance against toxic positivity on their just-released third album, In Polaroid.

An immensely satisfying eight-song callback to the Goth/New Wave glory days of Echo and the Bunnymen, The Smiths and especially The Cure, the record hits every genre touchstone your black little heart could desire: clanging, chiming guitars; a relentlessly thwacking snare drum; and long, held keyboard notes that sit just below the threshold of human hearing. And of course, a lyrical and spiritual thrust that reassure us not to wallow in how bad things are now. Because there’s always the chance they’ll get worse.

What’s it like “to live in endless fear of tragedy?” You don’t have to be naturally anxiety-prone to feel that way in 2023, a time of plague and war, among other ails. Sometimes a letter from a friend can be the balm to soothe frayed nerves. A letter that is “Addressed to You,” like the new single from Dillon Ryan and the Dream Romantic. Check it out on YouTube here:

Dillon Ryan and his goth-tinged post-punk band can make you believe that the New Brunswick towns of Miramichi or Moncton in the 21st century could well be Manchester circa 1985. With melodies like the best British ’80s pop bands and new-wave guitar textures that emerge from a Maritime fog, the Dream Romantic sound like they fell out of a John Hughes soundtrack, with all the requisite romantic melancholy.