DSU (album)

The title of the album is an abbreviation of Dream State University. It is derived from a comment Giannascoli's older sister, Rachel, had made. He explained

I was asking my sister what I should name the album and she gave me a bunch of names. One of them was Dream State, because I gave her all these songs to listen to and she said that they had a dreamy vibe. I thought that was too cheesy, but I was joking around with the name Dream State University as a play on the whole State University thing that we have in America, and then we were both like 'Oh! That's pretty funny, why don't we do that?' And then I kinda bailed out at the last minute. I just thought it was such a lame fucking name, but I couldn't change it at that point. My sister had already written DSU on the album cover and she was about to put Dream State University at the bottom but I was like 'No! I hate that name, don't do it!' So in the end we just stuck with DSU and it worked out.^[5]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.7/10[6]
Metacritic	79/100[7]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Clash	7/10[9]
Consequence of Sound	B[10]
The Guardian	[11]
Mojo	[12]
NME	8/10[13]
Pitchfork	7.9/10[14]
Q	[15]
Rolling Stone	[16]
Uncut	8/10[17]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, DSU received an average score of 79, based on 13 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[7] Samme Maine of Drowned in Sound wrote, "Alex G speaks a refreshing honesty, with an artistic flair that many before him have failed to master. It's careful yet effortless, passionate yet distant but above-all, wholly unique."^[18] NME's Ben Homewood stated that the album "skillfully combines Neil Young's dusty American songcraft with scratchy lo-fi and wandering electronic influences."^[13] Dean Essner of Consequence of Sound said, "At its best, DSU cycles through that duality with aplomb, which will serve as an excellent introduction to his gigantic discography for all new fans."^[10] Clash's Mat Smith stated that the album "is enduring evidence that the purest, most interesting music inevitably comes without hefty production or marketing budgets."^[9] Rolling Stone critic Simon Vozick-Levinson said, "The more you listen, the more obvious it is that Alex G is a bright new talent in his own right."^[16]