I bought Wolf Parade’s debut LP Apologies to the Queen Mary on a whim on New Year’s Eve 2005, a few months after it was released. That would turn out to be my favorite musical purchase of the year, as narrowly as it slipped in there, and I’ve been waiting for the follow up ever since. After three years of side projects, it’s finally here, I’ve finally spent some time with it, and I can finally say it’s one of the most solid Sophomoric efforts by a band I have heard in a long, long time.
At Mount Zoomer greets you with Soldier’s Grin and it’s sugary, razor thin, bubbly synths. It’s an instant promise of pop perfection from a band who knows how to make pop sound really dirty. You’ll notice the LP clocks in at only 8 tracks, at a lean 35 minutes. As much as this will leave you wanting more, it won’t make you feel cheated when you hear California Dreamer’s fantastic refrain and Fine Young Cannibals six-and-a-half minutes of synth-noir, reverb-laden hooks, and Spoon-esque guitar crunches. Call it a Ritual is kind of this record’s version of I’ll Believe in Anything, in a non-repetitive sort of way.
If you’re a Wolf Parade fan, you’re going to like this record, and you’re going to like this record a lot. No question about that. Does it beat Apologies to the Queen Mary? No, but that shouldn’t be to much of a shock considering that record is largely revered as one of the foremost Indie Rock albums of the first decade of the new millenium, and rightfully so. The only complaint I can find in this thing is that perhaps a bit fo the chemistry is lost. I don’t know how to explain it, but maybe in all of the many side-projects, tours, and day to day lives of the members of Wolf Parade a little bit of that raw energy that made Mary so exciting to listen to time and time again was lost, or just played down a bit. Either way, more than deserving of your ten bucks.
Hard to Find a Friend - A Music Blog 