Wolf Parade – Apologies To The Queen Mary
(Sub Pop)

As a child, having grown up in a heavily Italian neighbourhood, I distinctly remember the distant sound of a slowly pounding drum creeping up my street once a year. Although I knew the banging drum was leading a parade making its way up the road in celebration of some sort of Italian festival, it still used to creep me out in a �Godfather/Big Trouble In Little China Asian funeral that�s about to break out into a supernatural war� kind of way.

“Our Apologies to the Queen Mary” opens with “You Are a Runner And I Am My Father�s Son”; beginning with the exact same slowly pounding swagger, leading a parade of 12 outstanding tracks from Montreal, Canada�s Wolf Parade. Spencer Krug�s vocals, a perfect blend of Bowie and Byrne, share alternate tracks with Don Boeckner�s raspier rendition of Beck Hanson. That�s not to say these aren�t two original and captivating voices. In fact, the vocals are probably the best aspect of Wolf Parade�s overall sound, outside of the haunting organs and uplifting melodies. That�s right, haunting yet uplifting.

As we all know, the album was produced by Isaac Brock, which I guess might matter if Wolf Parade wasn�t already riddled with Modest Mouse-isms. The production sounds big in presence, but intimate in delivery. With the drums upfront, modestly distorted guitars are accented by dual keyboards, which are then accented by what�s simply credited as �electronics�; most notably a theremin on “Same Ghost Every Night”, which seems to pop up here and there throughout the rest of the album. However, as electronic as things get, Krug�s overdriven organ keeps the tracks grounded in organic atmospherics.

“We Built Another World” finds itself momentarily dipping into the ever-popular dance/punk sound, but overall the album finds different, more original ways of inciting enough kinetic energy to power a small town for three days. But don�t be fooled, things can get quiet pretty fast, as is such on the heavily reverberated “Dinner Bells”.

The only downside to all of this is the fact that eight of the twelve songs have been available on previous releases. “Dear Sons and Daughters of Holy Ghosts”, “We Built Another World”, “Grounds For Divorce” and “It�s a Curse” can all be found on Wolf Parade�s self released 2004 EP. The good news is they�ve all been completely re-recorded and sound much better. “Shine a Light” and “You Are a Runner�” can be found on the self-titled EP, released this past summer. However, this still isn�t enough to change the fact that this album is definitely one of, if not the best, releases of this year. — Jay C.

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