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Wolf Parade :: At Mount Zoomer

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Montreal do-gooders Wolf Parade surprised me with their first album, Apologies to the Queen Mary. The Isaac Brock-produced record was laced with creepy off-key melodies, and singles like "Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" could carry me through a day as though I had my headphones firmly clamped around my noggin. At Mount Zoomer, however, goes off in a direction all its own. This time, the Wolf boys themselves turned the dials in the studio and the product is all the better for it.

The story goes that when the band sent the finished album to Sub Pop, they included with it a small note: "No singles." This little white lie was propagated by the label itself as a tongue-in-cheek response to the direction Wolf Parade took with their sophomore effort.

There are, of course, singles. Nothing like "Sons and Daughters" or "I'll Believe in Anything", mind you. "Grey Estates", "Language City", and "An Animal in Your Care" are just as good alone as they are in the context of the rest of the album. But it's the contextual nature of At Mount Zoomer (Mount Zoomer being the name of their production studio) that lift it above being merely a second record. I've found it difficult to merely play one song when I put on the headphones and press play. I always have to start at the beginning, and play it until it culminates with the operatic, heartbreaking "Kissing the Beehive". Anything else just wouldn't seem right.

Band :: Wolf Parade

Album :: At Mount Zoomer

Song :: The Grey Estates



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Comments

Tinbum said…
I've (ashamedly) only just discovered Wolf Mother this year, despite knowing of them for a while. Love their stuff so am eager keen bean to get into this new album.

Thanks Duck and Cover for making me aware of it.
22 July, 2008
Jamie said…
Ah. Wolf Mother--still good, but different than Wolf Parade.
23 July, 2008
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