College Times

Media Credit: Mego Sam Cecil

Don’t try to make sense of Wolf Parade – you’ll end up with a headache and few answers. And, what’s worse, you might miss out on how delightful the Montreal five-piece really is. The makeup of the band itself seems like the delusions of some disorienting mid-afternoon hash-dream. A two-headed singing attack consisting of the high-registered warbling of Spencer Krug and the coarse, taut-chested bellowing of Dan Boeckner swirls together like a strange, ethereal Beck-Ziggy Stardust lovechild. Wolf Parade’s critically-lauded debut, Apologies to the Queen Mary, drew comparison to other bands like Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse. Some association was justified – after all, Modest Mouse singer Isaac Brock played a key role in the band signing with Sub Pop in the first place. But the group pulls back a bit on At Mount Zoomer, toning down the once-dominating keyboards and letting the peculiar genius of the two singers’ lyricism do more than just peek out. The musical progression on the album will no doubt serve to cut the shackles of creative comparison, but makes the million-dollar question even more pressing: what on earth are these guys talking about? On the opening track, “Soldier’s Grin,” Boeckner wails, “I rode horse-shaped fire draggin’ stereo wire. And we rode chemicals on to the breakin’ of dawn.” Perhaps the hash-dream reference wasn’t too far off, after all.

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