Wolf Parade
At Mount Zoomer
Rating: 8.8 (out 0f 10)
First things first. If you only have the bootleg download of this album that was released a month or so ago, run out and get the album. It sounds light years better. I don't know what happened with the cut of the download that I'd been listening to (and loving) this past month, but to hear the album in its intended version is an entirely different (and much better) experience. I probably would have given the album an 7.5 a week ago (which is a little disappointing after my expectations for the band have hit unprecedented levels) but now I feel this is exactly what I had hoped for all along. Just an absolutely brilliant album for a band that can really do no wrong. The variety of instrumentals, the layers of sound, and the way Spencer's voice cracks in hi-fi just need to be heard on a CD quality recording. In fact, a very small part of me is looking forward to flying to Indiana tomorrow just so I have the chance to listen to the album on my headphones. It's that good.
The tracks:
"Soldier's Grin" is just a great, perfect opening. It's a Dan track, and he's really at top form here, as he is on the entire album. From the opening chords of Spencer's keyboard, rising and falling into a catchy guitar bit and exploding into Handsome Furs-esque drum beats, the sound is just awesome. A near perfect beginning. This is probably my third favorite track on the entire album. I just love hearing it start...
In my head there's a city at night,
Static gauge with the rush of the lights,
Now it's concourse, you look very fine,
But this place here is no friend of mine.
About halfway through, the song slows down to a mid-tempo crawl, but it picks up for the ending. The closing coda "And what you know can only mean one thing, rooted to the place that you spring from" leads into a great explosion of musical wonder. Well done, Dan. Well done indeed.
"Call it Ritual" follows. As the first leaked track, I've probably heard this song a million times over the last 2 months. I still fall for it when the tempo picks up near the end. It's not Spencer's best, not by a long shot, but it's quite good.
But I am amazed at how they go. I am amazed at how they go. But I am amazed at how they go. I am amazed at how they go.
"Language City" is my favorite song on the album. It's been in my top 3 favorite songs of the week for the past five or six weeks and counting. It's one of Dan's finest tracks, starting with a mid-tempo pace that isn't particularly wonderful or catchy, but exploding towards the end in beautiful rhythm and harmony, much like most of the songs on the album. Even in the clearer CD version, I haven't quite figured out the lyrics or what the hell Dan is talking about here (why no lyrics included with the album?!) but when he starts singing this part, every time I get a little excited.
We are not at home, we are not at home, we are not at home, we are not at home, we are not at home, we are not at home.
Hang on the telephone, hang on the telephone, hang on the telephone!
"Bang Your Drum" completes an almost perfect opening four song blast to the album. It's only 3 minutes long and as such, feels a bit like a throwaway Spencer song, but it might be his best contribution to the album (besides co-writing "Kissing the Beehive"). It sounds just like something from the first Sunset Rubdown album, which is absolutely a good thing. I just love the way his voice wavers.
So take a dive
Oh take a dive
Oh take it out on the stepping stones that make the water rise
Take a dive
Oh take a dive
Take that hair out of your damned eyes
"California Dreamer" follows and it hurts me to say it since it's Spencer's longest song on the album, but it's not the greatest song in the world. It's not bad, by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems to just drift in and out and go kind of nowhere. It's also a 6 minute song and the middle track of the album, so I'm surprised that it holds no great sway over me. It does sound light years better on the CD version vs. the download, though. This and "Soldier's Grin" probably improve the most. And the ending does provide the typical upshot of energy that sort of save it and blend it more nicely into the album.
"The Grey Estates" is a pretty straightforward pop song, if you can call anything that Dan writes a pop song. I really like it, and I really like the beat it provides.
Darling please, let's get out of here
On a train to who knows where
I've got a feeling that I can't explain
We had to leave this place, we won't go back again
Getting tired of landscapes, we're just floating
Rolling past the grey estates
"Fine Young Cannibals" is probably my least favorite song on the album. It's Dan's version of "California Dreamer" to me -- a little too long, doesn't go anywhere particularly special. Of course, on a Wolf Parade album, being the worst song is still better than pretty much any other band can produce on their best day.
"An Animal in Your Care" probably takes the honor of my favorite Spencer track, almost by default. For whatever reason, Dan's songs resonate a little stronger on this album than Spencer's, the opposite of Apologies to the Queen Mary. Of course, when that album first came out, I really didn't notice much if any difference between the two songwriters. It's only since then - with the ascendancy of Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs - that their voices and sounds are so unique. As the Pitchfork review (which way underestimates this album) mentions, there isn't a ton of cohesion in the tracks -- they do feel like Dan songs and Spencer songs, but I don't know if I have a problem with that. In any case, I really love this song, no matter who's singing it. And again, it sounds incredible on CD.
"Kissing the Beehive" is a nearly 11-minute closer, co-written by both singers, who both sing on it, and it is definitely a bit of a departure for the band. I don't know that I particularly care for the final 2 to 3 minute "jam session" that closes the song, but I love every second before it, so I can't really complain. This is a really great song. I don't know what Pitchfork was saying in its review. My current play count is 59 plays and it's an 11-minute song, so that's almost 650 minutes (or 11 hours) that I've listened to just this song over the past 5 weeks. It's that good. The middle portion when Spencer takes over and sings what passes for a "chorus" for this album is mindblowing.
Jonathan, Jonathan, water falls around him, then you know.
Here's a holy grail for you to hold.
Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole.I'm not a wild party, I'm just an evening at the show
Put the ring back on and take your husband home.
Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole.
Great review! I was fortunate enough to see them three times in a week earlier this month. Pretty incredible.
Posted by: Victoria | July 31, 2008 at 11:33 AM