Wolf Parade

[August 29th, 2007] [CATHARTIC INDIE] It’s pretty amazing that two songwriters—here, Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner—could split songwriting duties for a single album right down the middle and end up with something coherent. But Wolf Parade’s debut, Apologies to the Queen Mary , does just that—and it’s also excellent.

Though engaging enough on a purely musical level (the album’s full of edgy guitars, atmospheric keys and primal percussion), it’s Apologies’ spooky mythology that’s especially fulfilling—that, and the fact that singing along is a gut-wrenching experience so cathartic it hurts. From Boeckner’s downtrodden “Modern World” (on which he scratchily broods, “Modern World/ I’m not pleased to meet you”) to Krug’s soaring depiction of an anonymity-filled holiday on “I’ll Believe In Anything,” this Montreal-based quartet pulls off the sort of heady angst scores of indie bands strive for but scarcely achieve—especially with such poetry.

The Isaac Brock-produced record came out amid buckets of hype, and comparisons to Brock’s Modest Mouse easily followed; to be fair, both Krug and Boeckner employ manic, loose-cannon vocals similar to Brock’s, and lyrics like “God doesn’t always have the best goddamn plans” could’ve been stripped right from Brock’s notepad. But two years and God knows how many listens later, it’s clear that this band is on to something entirely unique. Sure, it’s indie rock in a very general sense, but it feels more like a rock exorcism.