Full disclosure: Wolf Parade are one of my favorite bands in existence. Not like an all time thing, but of the bands currently making music today Wolf Parade are in my top five...tied at number four to be exact along with Slayer, following Sunn 0))), Radiohead and Belle & Sebastian. Since their fantastic debut "Apologies to the Queen Mary," I have been constantly frustrated and amazed that they haven't gained the recognition that some of their less worthy peers have received. Whereas MGMT can sell out a club in a matter of minutes, Wolf Parade ends up only filling half the club with their small but dedicated following. Nothing against MGMT, but they aren't Wolf Parade. Part of the reason for this is that unlike MGMT and others, Wolf Parade never had that one indie rockstar making hit. They never produced a dance pop track like "Kids," or that moment-in-time defining album like fellow Canadians Arcade Fire. To a large degree this is because the band is, for the most part, immune to the ever changing musical trends going on around them. There is no one else who really sounds like Wolf Parade, because Wolf Parade doesn't really sound like anyone else - or at least any contemporaneous artists. That uniqueness is part of Wolf Parade's strength, but it is also what isolates them from the unwashed indie masses. You have to love music, in particular rock music, to love Wolf Parade, not just follow the musical trends of the moment.
What is so great about Wolf Parade other than the fact that they stick out like a sore thumb in a class of kids who look the same and sound the same? Well, they play with the energy of the Clash, sound like the indie-rock damaged love child of Springsteen and Bowie, and most importantly they rock. Really really rock. Not in a heavy metal sort of way, but in a jump up and down, scream, hoot and holler after each song kind of way. When so few bands know how to rock any more, Wolf Parade pull no punches when it comes to bashing out fist pumping anthems. If that wasn't enough, the band constantly ups the ante by incorporating layers and layers of melodies, counter melodies and prog-inspired bits of experimentation into their songs to constantly keep listeners on their toes. As a result, the band crafts songs that are both viscerally satisfying and challenging at the same time. Take a song like "Language City," from "At Mount Zoomer." It begins as a straightforward rocker on its way toward a dizzying climax, but not before the band seamlessly switches melodies and dynamics no less than three times. Wolf Parade often accomplishes more in one song than most bands do in their entire careers.
So, as a caveat, I review this album as a huge fan, which is why it pains me to say that of the band's three works, "Expo 86" is my least favorite. Notice, I am not saying it is a bad album, cause it isn't. It's actually really pretty good. It just doesn't change my world like "Queen Mary" and "Mount Zoomer" did.
This time out the band cuts out the epic prog elements of "Zoomer" and tempers the hard-edged approach of "Queen Mary" to meet somewhere in the middle. To their credit they have produced their most straightforward and consistent release to date. The band consciously set out to make a more upbeat album than "Zoomer," and in that regard they should count "Expo 86" as a success. I just kind of miss those darker, more bizarre, pieces like "An Animal in Your Cage," and "Kissing the Beehive."
With the exception of vocals, "Expo 86" was recorded live with very few overdubs. Given that Wolf Parade are one of the best live bands working today, this approach serves them well. As a result, the album sounds less staged than anything they have produced before. In the past an obvious divide existed between songs based on which of the group's primary writers - Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner - wrote the track. "Expo 86" closes that gap significantly, featuring songs that Krug and Boeckner fleshed out together. The album sounds much more cohesive and collaborative than previous records.
"Expo 86" hits the ground running with "Cloud Shadow on the Mountains." Krug said in an interview that he wanted this record to sound like the music he imagined was playing at school dances in the Archie comics, and certainly if Archie was set post-1977 "Cloud Shadow" could very well be that music. It's an upbeat punk basher that features Krug's distinctive keyboards sounding a bit like a ska workout reflected in a funhouse mirror. Boekner and guitarist Dante DeCaro, in the meantime, cultivate a darker guitar pattern that eventually diverges with the melody, leading the band into a breakdown before returning to Krug's Archie dance party. "Palm Road" follows and offers up a classic Boekner song. It's one of those songs that makes you feel like you should be driving 100 mph away from somewhere, and like all great Boekner songs it goes through numerous costume changes before coming to rest at the edge of a precipice. What is immediately noticeable about both "Cloud Shadow" and "Palm Road" is that they look like Wolf Parade songs, they feel like Wolf Parade songs, and they sound like Wolf Parade songs, but something is off, something is different here. Both songs contain shifts in dynamics and melody, both songs rock, I mean really rock, but something is just not the same. What is different is that the changes in direction are shorter lived, more concise and the songs barely stop to take a breath, speeding by the listener. The end result is that while "Expo 86" is more immediate than any of the band's other albums, the songs are not as distinguishable initially. It takes a lot more time to unpack these songs and make them into favorites than previously. Even though they are immediate, These songs are dense and it takes repeated listens to fully grasp everything that is going on, in part because they come at you so fast.
Two songs that defy everything I just wrote are "What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way)" and "Little Golden Age." "What Did My Lover Say" finds the band turning in one of their more ponderous songs over a dance beat punctuated by smash and bash bridges and point counterpoint guitar workouts. It shouldn't be, but it is, one of the cleanest songs on the album and one of the most effective. Plus for the Wolf Parade geeks it features the line "I don't think I should be sorry for things that I did in dreams, some people live like they are falling, some people die in their sleep," which recalls "Shine A Light's" "some people float, some are buried alive" refrain. "Little Golden Age," on the other hand, is a rock anthem writ large. It's the kind of shit that made Springsteen the Boss, and it's more than worthy of the comparison.
The rest of the album takes a little longer to get to the bottom of, but in the end songs like "In the Direction of the Moon," and "Ghost Pressure" get their hooks in you and worm their way into you brain. Spend a little time with these songs and you'll find yourself humming them throughout the day. "Pobody's Nerfect" starts out all brash and in your face before receding into a hybrid of "Golden Age"-styled anthem and straightforward WP rocker. It's another album highlight. There are a couple of tracks toward the end that are easily forgettable. "Two Men in New Tuxedos" doesn't do too much, while "Oh You, Old Thing" eventually does, but takes too long to get there. "Yulia" and "Cave-o-Sapian" close out the album nicely revisiting both sides of the Wolf Parade coin; Boekner's 80s-s inspired anthematic rock and Krug's keyboard-driven punkpop. What binds these songs together more than ever before is that both sound like they could be played at Archie's school dance by the same band without missing a beat. That cohesion is what eventually distinguishes "Expo 86" the most, and, in the end, makes for another great Wolf Parade album. Even if it didn't change my life like "Queen Mary" and "Mount Zoomer," it's an album that will find its way onto my turntable time and time again, especially when I feel the need to rock it out with the likes of Betty and Veronica.
Wheeler says: "Fuck yeah!!! This makes me want to slam dance!"
"Little Golden Age"
"What Did My Lover Say"
"Cloud Shadow On The Mountain" live
"Ghost Pressure" live
"Palm Road" live
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