Wolf Parade

At first, Canadian indie rock band Wolf Parade really comes off as a spastic Modest Mouse homage, if not downright rip off, though to be fair, it is closer to the older, Moon and Antarctica Modest Mouse, rather then the widely reviled Good News For People Who Love Bad News MM, and this accusation is easy to make considering Isaac Brock’s well known association with the band. However, upon closer inspection, they reveal themselves as much, much more then that.

The band was created when singer Spencer Krug (and come on, how awesome of a last name is Krug?) was offered a gig on the Arcade Fire, Us Kids Now tour. In three weeks he had created Wolf Parade, and they had recorded enough songs to play on the tour. This really reflects them more then you would think, because ‘A torrent of pure genius flowing faster then is probably healthy’ kind of fits them.

They’re only album (though a new one is slated for release june), Apologies to the Queen Mary, released 2005, is a powerhouse of damn fine Indie rock. Quirky, energetic, but with a sense of melancholy, it flows through you like a vanilla milk shake spiked with bourbon. Krugs’s lyrics don’t really translate to anything humanly understandable. Instead, they kind of sit on the surface of your brain in a kind of coital afterglow, almost like they’re to good for you to really get, only helped on by his slightly drawling deliverance, and liberal use of echohing/doubled up vocal effects. Dan Boeckner provides the vital guitar work that is impressive, not so much because of a dazzling display of dexterous finger work, but because they wind together to create such incredible songs. They have the simple (well not TO simple, but simple enough comparatively) elegance of Bowe’s Under Pressure (for god’s sake, it’s two notes!), often making use of basic scale progressions and the like, to beautiful effect.

The drum-work is decent, considering the band started with a simple drum machine, and Arlen Thompson does a good job providing pulsating, driving beat’s that I really provide Wolf Parade with unique sound. What really makes this band shine though, is the synths of Hadji Bakara (that is to say, specifically Hadji Bakara and his synths as, if a Synthesizer a good band made we’d be up to our bloody eye balls in wondrous indie rock). He weaves in toe tapping, mind sticking melodies, fuzz, and effects through out the whole album with masterus effect, like the one guest at a party who make the whole thing enjoyable by bringing out the most interesting attribute of every other person there. To try and choose a favorite song on this album is impossible for me, as it will invariably end up simply being which ever one I have listened to most recently. I highly recommend you throw Apologies to the Queen Mary to the top of your buy list immediately.
You can also take a look at their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/wolfparade

-Sigmund Amadeus Werndorf