I remember reading that the rapper Drake used the word "I" over 400 times on his debut album, in a kind of subliminal act of superhuman self-obsession.

In the case of Oh Dear!, and the band's debut album, lead singer Brandon Sagnella may have set some sort of record for the number of times "you" is utilized. The majority of the songs on the self-titled LP are shaped in the same way, with Sagnella singing only about "you," and what he thinks about "you," and the various ways in which "you" have hurt or helped him. As each song drifts into the next, an accusatory song suite begins to emerge.

On album closer, "When She Sat Me Down," Sagnella finally and briefly relinquishes the second-person reins - describing what a messed-up position he's found himself in with this person he's been describing, before ultimately turning back and saying, "I hope that maybe I can change your mind."

Of course, when I speak with Sagnella about the album, he tells me there is no one person about whom the album is written. But it's fun to connect the dots of this imaginary relationship.

The music of Oh Dear! can't be described as anything other than indie rock. It seems to take cues from the various touchstones of the genre, moving from the choppy guitars of Modest Mouse on through the beatific blandness of Minus the Bear, and even approaching the sprightly guitar work of Vampire Weekend. As a vocalist, Sagnella dips into the angsty, near-emo tones of Bright Eyes and Eliot Smith. It's a pastiche of sound that seems so perfected it eventually becomes a statement all its own.

"Most of us were in a band together that ended," says Sagnella. "We hung out for a year and a half. And then we went to a Don't Tell Sophie show, and we got really nostalgic. Me and Justin (Martin) walked outside, called up Jake (Gosselin) and were like, ‘Hey, man. Let's start a band again.' ... Our last band was pretty dancey and electronic, but we had a lot of troubles with the electronic part of it. We wanted to do something upbeat and dancey, but stay organic so we wouldn't have stuff out of our control."

The degree to which Oh Dear! is dancey is achieved mostly by virtue of the guitar work of Sagnella and Martin, which almost entirely consists of sprightly chiming and picking - helping to lend a sort of urgency to songs that might otherwise read as diary entries. As an album, there is always forward momentum, even as the suite of accusatory songs starts to become uncomfortably similar to the sensation of rehashing old fights and painful memories with someone you really care about.

This is Oh Dear!'s greatest achievement - creating a series of songs about different people that nevertheless sound like they're about that one particular person in all of our lives.

Oh Dear!

with Wheelies, Colonies
Saturday, Sept. 3, 9 p.m., $5,
The New Frontier Lounge, 301 E. 25th St, Tacoma
253.572.4020