Wolf Parade

At Mount Zoomer (Sub Pop)

By Lindsay Trapnell
Published: June 21st, 2008 | 1:00pm

“Allow me to play the voyager,” pleads singer-keyboardist Spencer Krug in “Bang Your Drum.” If you’re up for the 46-minute ride, Krug and his band mates will take you on an alternately mythical and modern journey from the desert to the East Coast on their sophomore release, At Mount Zoomer.

Wolf Parade set the bar high with their much lauded 2005 debut, Apologies To the Queen Mary. At Mount Zoomer doesn't have the immediacy of their debut, but what it lacks in instant appeal, it makes up for in sonic layers that continue to reveal themselves with repeated play. If Apologies was the swaggering, hormonal teenager, then Mount Zoomer is the mature, confident adult it has become.

Krug and guitarist Dan Boeckner split songwriting and vocal duties again, but it feels more collaborative and cohesive this time around. Opener “Soldier’s Grin” features a simple, catchy guitar riff, driving drumbeat, and organ. As Boeckner sings “In my head is a city at night,” the song's dense instrumentation magnifies his inner turmoil. The trippy “Call It a Ritual” pairs galloping drum and keyboard rhythms with spacey guitar, reverb, and layered, haunting vocals by Krug. You can hear the ‘70s rock influence, especially on the Krug tracks.

The absence of home is a recurring theme, which makes sense considering the amount of time these multi-band musicians spend away from their Montreal base. “We are not at home” becomes a plaintive mantra sung by Boeckner in the poppy, keys-driven “Language City.” In “Bang Your Drum,” Krug questions, “Do they beat that drum to get you back home or do they beat it to keep you away?”

Mt. Zoomer is a solid record — complex and timeless, especially when compared to the more modern sounding Apologies. Closer “Kissing the Beehive” is perhaps the best evidence of their rocknroll prowess: A slow starter that continues to build and sprawl until it’s a rollicking, twisting, near 11-minute epic. The song perfectly captures the band’s rare ability to be simultaneously loose and melodic.

If you had any doubts about Wolf Parade’s staying power, At Mount Zoomer should put them to rest.

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