Review Summary: Wolf Parade have once again defined a sound that is unequivocally theirs, but as a whole the songs tend to sound too similar too one another over the long haul to match up to Apologies’ breakneck pace and innovative rapid-fire changes.
Wolf Parade’s combustible, frantic first album, Apologies To The Queen Mary, was one of the most creative and undeniably fresh debuts by an indie rock band in 2005 or since, and their members’ haven’t been lacking for any new ideas; vocalists/guitarists Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug have been involved in countless side projects, with Wolf Parade only the most well known. It would be quite a task to match up to the unique indie-rock of Apologies, and Wolf Parade doesn’t try. Instead, they set back the metronomes, tone down the yelps, and take to At Mount Zoomer like a wizened painter slowly fine-tuning his latest piece to work out every last kink.
The results are, predictably, mixed. Much of Apologies charm came from its “damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-ahead” mentality and the way Wolf Parade’s grab-bag of rock styles and influences combined to create a whole that always seemed like it was about to fall apart but somehow managed to stay strong to the end. At Mount Zoomer is slower and more calculated; Wolf Parade knows what they want to do, and, for the most part, they do it. “Soldier’s Grin” is vintage Wolf Parade, rolling drums, hypnotic keyboards, and Boeckner and Krug’s peculiar vocals framing their characteristically dense lyrics.
“Call It A Ritual” is even more tightly focused, built around a foreboding piano line and squalling guitar, but the song never really develops beyond its origins. The following “Language City” is the best song on the record, a tune about the pointlessness of bull***ting that has a better beat than anything else on the album and a cathartic synth-based ending.
The songs tend to switch between shorter 3-minute pop experiments and 6-minute-plus musical expeditions. At Mount Zoomer thus has only nine tracks, but due to the often-bloated track lengths, Boeckner and Krug’s idea well tends to run dry along the second half of the album. “Fine Young Cannibals” loses steam early and turns into an instrumental that is interesting only the first time one listens to it. Closer “Kissing The Beehive” is about as prog as Wolf Parade could ever reasonably be expected to go, and consists of about five minutes worth of excellent melodies and ideas and another six minutes of so-so noodling and half-brained ventures. It’s a conscious attempt to sound epic, one that they can do just as easily with half the space.
Overall, the tracks on At Mount Zoomer tend to stand up individually on close inspection, but when the album is taken as a whole, its parts seem a little less distinctive. No song here grabs you immediately like Apologies opener “You Are A Runner And I Am My Father’s Son” or the heartfelt honesty and catchiness of “Dear Sons And Daughters of Holy Ghosts.” Apologies succeeded in never staying in the same place for too long; At Mount Zoomer succeeds in once again sounding unique, and Wolf Parade have once again defined a sound that is unequivocally theirs, but as a whole the songs tend to sound too similar too one another over the long haul to match up to Apologies’ breakneck pace and innovative rapid-fire changes.
