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By: Scott Mehaffey
Date: 26th Jun 08
Release: Album
To Cure: A quiet weekend
WHAT
AT MOUNT ZOOMER
WHO
WOLF PARADE
ON
SUB POP
Sophomore albums are make or break for any artist - whether you slump or whether you thrive depends on the act's talent and depth, and some artists just seem to have these two characteristics in spades. Montreal five-piece Wolf Parade are one of these very bands, and the quintet continue their upward march toward a successful musical peak with the release of the astounding AT MOUNT ZOOMER, the follow-up to 2004's equally brilliant APOLOGIES TO QUEEN MARY.
The album deviates from the group's debut in terms of sound, but by no means quality. AT MOUNT ZOOMER finds Wolf Parade exhibiting a slightly more upbeat style than they presented on their last record, with the keys now driving a more poppy sound, and joint vocalists Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug's tones seemingly more buoyant than ever before.
Standout tracks are impossible to narrow down in an album teeming with remarkably composed tunes full of detached yet peppy swagger, establishing the record as a stunning construct which appeals to all different manners of taste along the spectrum of musical appreciation.