Wolf Parade - Mount Zoomer

Wolf Parade; A youngling gang of aspiring musicians from the Quebec region who were dedicated to a specific sound from day one (and whose premiere album hit it big). What could be a cooler rags to riches story?

To add a layer of subtext to the already riveting plotline of Wolf Parade, let’s back up a little and look into the humble beginnings of the band. After joining musical forces in 2003 in a tiny Montreal apartment, Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner had been given a 3 week deadline to form a band. The duo had little to work with and used Krug’s computer speakers and drum machine for their percussion section. After adding a few more members (including Synth genius Hadji Bakara) and releasing a few highly sought after EP’s, the band gained international attention with the release of ‘Apologies To The Queen Mary’ in 2005.

The main problem and disjointedness of flow within the bulk of Wolf Parade’s material, however, is the completely separate songwriting entities of Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner. This growing rift between the two styles of musical creation is ultra evident on their newest release ‘At Mount Zoomer’. After promising ‘no singles’ from their new album to their record label Sub Pop (which is an interesting idea to keep the album as a complete work), it seems that Wolf Parade’s grandiose multi-tiered sound has confused even the members of the band as to their own musical identity. After much confusion as to missed deadlines and internet release dates, the band finally recorded the album at Petite Eglise which is the Quebec church owned by Arcade Fire that has been somewhat transformed into a recording studio.

Overall, there is nothing really wrong with the album. Perhaps the greatest strength of this band is, in fact, their own hubris - disjointedness and confusion which adds to waves of swelling sound and lyrics soaked in cultural references to funerals, death, birth and sometimes nothing at all. ‘At Mount Zoomer’ builds upon what Wolf Parade does well and for that reason, a listen-through is highly recommended. There is only one factor that will ultimately stop Wolf Parade in the end from achieving longevity and success within the music world - self-destruction.