Music Review - Wolf Parade

Wolf Parade
Expo 86
Sub Pop

I should probably start by saying that I believe Apologies to the Queen Mary, the debut album of Canadian indie rockers Wolf Parade, was one of the very best albums of the past decade, and is one of my absolute favorite records. So I've got some pretty damn high expectations for the band, expectations that weren't really met on their sophomore effort, At Mount Zoomer.

The first time I played their new album, Expo 86, I wasn't really feeling it. The songs felt too long and sounded almost sloppy - it was as if the group just decided to turn up the volume and hope for the best, a la Spinal Tap. And then, my second time through, all of a sudden I started enjoying the songs a lot more, and the music really snagged my attention. It's possible that this was aided by switching from my laptop speakers to my car's sound system, but that doesn't fully explain it, because I was even more impressed on my third listen-through. Expo 86 may not be as instantly awesome as their debut, but it has grown on me to the point where the songs are constantly stuck in my head (in a good way), and I feel like I could listen to it for years without tiring of it.

The album starts off in the middle of a frenetic drum beat, which serves as a pretty fitting metaphor for the album itself. Expo 86 is much less restrained than At Mount Zoomer, and let's Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner pour everything they have into each song. Krug (who's probably written the band's best songs) and Boeckner (who's written their most accessible tracks) essentially split the song-writing here, and both are near the top of their game. Krug's "Cloud Shadow on the Mountain" kicks the album off with a bang while his excellent "Cave-O-Sapien" (whatever the fuck that means) provides a great closer, and "What Did My Lover Say?" is one of my favorites from this release. However, Boeckner delivers a back-to-back, one-two-punch of classic Wolf Parade awesomeness with "Ghost Pressure" and "Pobody's Nerfect" (slydexia intentional) in the middle of the album, as well as the excellent "Yulia," the album's most straightforward pop-ish track. Expo 86 is in general heavier on the guitar, and Krug's distinctive keyboard sound is largely relegated to the background, but the album replaces it with more of a synth-y sound that works well in most cases, and very well in others.

While it's true that this doesn't top their debut, and nothing on it comes close to unseating "I'll Believe in Anything" - a truly amazing song - from the top of their catalogue, this is an album that deserves a lot of praise. Krug and Boeckner have both been busy with their other bands, Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs, respectively, which have both been making really great music. It's not too hard to imagine them simply phoning it in for Expo 86, and I have to admit that I was afraid that exact thing had happened when I started listening to it. However, they've created a album that takes a little time to grow, but if you're willing to give it a chance, it's really quite something to behold. But, you know, with your ears.

Grade: A-

If you only have time/money/patience for one track: "Ghost Pressure"