Expo 86
Montreal natives and veteran indie-rockers Wolf Parade released their third studio album, Expo 86, yesterday (June 29th) with Sub Pop records. Expo 86 is a strong follow-up to last year’s critically acclaimed At Mount Zoomer, and on this album the the band takes their melodic, yet sometimes frenetic aesthetic to a new level. The hard rocking quartet seems to have settled into a groove on Expo 86, collaborating in the writing and recording of each track. This new sense of cohesion is evident immediately, beginning with the album’s opening track ‘Cloud Shadow on the Mountain.’ The track opens with a David Byrne-esque rant from keyboardist Spencer Krug, quickly building to a crescendo that instantly commands the listener’s attention.
What impressed me most about this album was the fact that Wolf Parade managed to create such a collaborative project despite the fact that several members are currently working with other bands. Spencer Krug and guitarist/vocalist Dan Boeckner are members of Sunset Rubdown and The Handsome Furs respectively, and Dante DeCaro (guitar, bass, percussion, keyboard) also works with The Hot Hot Heat. Despite their many musical undertakings, the quality of Wolf Parade’s new LP does not suffer, in fact, it seems like the boys from Montreal thrive by branching out. Boeckner was recently quoted as saying of the album:
“This record — which I’m most proud of out of all the records we’ve done —the hook is kind of like: ‘Four really close friends who don’t hate each other, even though they’ve been in a band for five years together, make a hard-rock record.’ I personally think that’s great.”
We think it’s great too, so here are a few of our favorites from Expo 86 for you to enjoy. Peace.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Cloud Shadow on the Mountain- Wolf Parade
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Leave a Reply