So, what's a trend-fitting band to do when their trend finally exhausts itself? Does it just curl up its' toes and fade away? Well, sometimes that does happen, but occasionally some of those bands soldier on and even produce something worth hearing. Did anyone really think that band would be Wolf Parade though? When the Montreal-based trio first broke into the mainstream a few years ago, Wolf Parade found themselves playing in a lupine-saturated market; in addition to Wolf Parade, there was Wolf Eyes, We Are Wolves, Wolfmother, Woelv and AIDS Wolf all jockeying for the new seat at the head table of the music mainstream. Wolf Parade managed to pull it off though, they ascended to the top of the stack of 'wolf' bands, and their disco/post-punk sound won them more than a few minutes on modern rock radio airwaves.
Of course, the 'wolf bands' trend passed (as they do), and some of those groups have since broken up and reconstituted themselves a couple of times over. Wolf Parade has endured and, in listening to EXPO 86, it's plain that the band is determined to not fade away with the dying embers of their fad.
In keeping with that ambition, EXPO 86 is something of a transitional record that finds Wolf Parade attempting to evolve into something not quite so tied to 2005, but there is also a vested effort made on the band's part to not lose themselves in in their own ambition too. After “Cloud Shadow On The Mountain” closes the book on both Apologies to the Queen Mary and At Mount Zoomer, the band deliberately slows down on the post-punk side of their sound and focuses more on the indie rock-and-synth pop side. Songs like “Palm Road” and “What Did My Lover Say?” successfully update the Talking Heads' brand of New Wave with some infectious and unhinged touchings lifted from Modest Mouse and Arcade Fire and thrown in for good measure as singer Dan Boeckner wrings eery drop of dramatic, Daniel Byrne-bequeathed emotionally stunted delivery in him into lines like “Take your lover all apart/looking for his shipwrecked heart” and his rhythm section shuffles along at a methodical pace that ensures no listener will miss the band's point. When the band isn't trying to mine that idea for any gold that might have been left behind over the last three decades, Wolf Parade seems to express an interest in trying to steal a bit of U2's thunder as Boeckner yelps along melodically through “Little Golden Age” and apes a pompous tone just like Bono through “The Direction Of The Moon” and others. To their credit, Wolf Parade does demonstrate that they're capable of making more than one sound, as well as prove that they can do it with at least a modecum of proficiency, but listeners who recognize the sounds that the band is stealing will cry foul and thereby leave the decent later tracks like “Two Men In New Tuxedos” and “Cave-O-Sapien” to die on the vine. That's unfortunate, but also understandable; while Wolf Parade deserves a bit of respect for earnestly trying to not go down with their scene, it might not work out because EXPO 86 might have too many changes in it for the diehard fans in the band's camp t stand behind. Will those remaining fans be the final brick that sinks Wolf Parade? Only time will tell.
Artist:
www,wolfparade.nonstuff.com/
www.myspace.com/wolfparade
Download:
Wolf Parade – “What Did My Lover Say?" – EXPO 86
Album:
EXPO 86 is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
