Apologies To Queen Mary (Vinyl) [Import]

 

 

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I heard the first buzz from Wolf Parade (from another Subpop group) months before their album landed in the indie media's lap.

By the next time I'd heard of them, they were being hailed as the Next Great Thing, with their quirky, catchy pop music and off-kilter vocals. They are also massively hyped as the next big indie thing, after Arcade Fire and alongside Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Fortunately they are also enormous fun to listen to -- think the dancier little brother of Modest Mouse.

"Apologies to the Queen Mary" opens with a clamorous drum solo that sets up a "boom da boom" carnival sound. Then the oddball sound is completed when Spencer Krug starts warbling that you are a runner, and he is his father's son. I can't quite make out what he's saying except for those lines, but it's a wonderfully colorful song that gets grounded by some gritty guitar.

Having successfully hooked in the listener, they segue into transcendent guitar pop, bouncy indie rock that will have you tapping your foot, shimmery ballads, synthy dance melodies, and mournful rock song that slowly waltzes around in a flutter of electric organ. "Same Ghost Every Night" is the peak of this album, and that sound should be explored in future albums.

It ends with the upbeat-sounding, but sad-themed "This Heart's on Fire," where Dan Boeckner does his best imitation with Beck. It's a raw, painful song under all the catchiness, since it is apparently about the death of Boeckner's mother, and you can hear the sorrow in his voice as he sings.

No, it's not genius, and the media will seize another hot young band soon. But Wolf Parade may well be around without them, because they have enough weirdness and musical skill to stick in your mind after the album ends. And instead of a signature sound, they explore different kinds of songs -- mostly with success.

Rather than trying for catchiness alone, they weave the catchiness with waves of sound and a folky edge. Buzzing guitars get to mesh with carnival twinkling and sweeps of electronic organ, and form madly complex, colorful pop tunes... which just happen to be catchy. Think Olivia Tremor Control meets Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.

Krug and Boeckner share vocal duty on various songs, and I have to say I prefer Boeckner's raw, smooth voice. Krug's voice tends toward a melodramatic warble. When he's singing, he seems to destabilize the songs he's in, while Boeckner does the reverse.

While Krug's warbly voice will be a turnoff for some, "Apologies to the Queen Mary" is a fun, colorful pop album, and definitely something worth checking out. Hype or no hype.

With months of pre-release talk about their shared members with Frog Eyes and the Arcade Fire, their signing to Sub Pop, and Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock producing this album, the Wolf Parade hype machine could already have backfired on overkill. But Apologies for the Queen Mary assuages all fears that the band is just gunning for scene points: This is one of the year's most sincere and genuine albums yet. And it's not just the ornate instrumentation and clever arrangements that get us-- it's the two violently surging vocalists, the gripping story arcs that play out like climactic four-minute novellas, and of course, the hour-long set of impassioned songs that establish Wolf Parade not as the flavor-of-the-minute their press would imply, but as one of 2005's most inspired new bands.

Wolf parade is the next best thing to come out of Montreal infact I find the almost as good as The Arcade Fire. I rated the songs from how I found them

1. 6.5/10 the worst song on the CD
2. 8/10
3. 8.5/10
4. 9/10
5. 9/10
6. 8.5/10
7. 10/10 the absolute best song on the CD
8. 8/10
9. 8.5/10
10. 8.5/10
11. 8.5/10
12. 9/10 the second best song on the CD

The band is very good but not great. They have two vocalists which is cool but the one who sings Shine a light is awesome and the one who sings Fancy Claps is only okay and thats why I only give this CD 4 out of 5 stars. Even though I dislike the second vocalist I would still buy there second CD if they come out with one.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A great album.
I picked AttQM up just a few days ago, and so far I've already listened to it four times beginning to end. These guys are awesome! Read more

Published on Oct 20 2005 by preston dean

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