Review: Wolf Parade – Expo 86

June 28th, 2010 by Oswald Hobbes / Comment on this post

Wolf Parade are in a pretty weird place: they released two of the most exciting and adventurous albums of the past decade, yet during the buildup for Expo 86, their new album, I never really wondered what it would sound like. And when I finally wrapped my ears around the new songs, there was very little surprise; they sound like Wolf Parade. Spencer Krug spouts elaborate and fantastic nonsense, Dan Boeckner struggles to remain strong in the face of an ever-impending apocalypse, and the band kicks out lurching, synth-goosed melodies. In spirit and execution it hews close to the band’s last album, At Mount Zoomer, but unlike that record it doesn’t sound like two solo albums stitched together. Expo 86 feels like a real collaboration, and the surprises that are to be found here recall those on the band’s instant-classic first album Apologies To The Queen Mary - the songs build tension to almost unbearable levels before releasing it all in spasms of squelchy, scary energy.

Each track is a miniature masterpiece of dynamics and craft; after battling it out for side project supremacy (Krug with the fanciful Sunset Rubdown, Boeckner with the perennially disappointing Handsome Furs), Krug has emerged the victor and every second of Expo 86 bears his unique stamp. Where Boeckner’s tunes on At Mount Zoomer got lost in aimless guitar tedium, his contributions here are tight and focused, with Krug’s keyboards pushing the trad arrangements relentlessly. And Krug’s own tunes are beefed-up variations on his work with Sunset Rubdown – the sound of childlike innocence facing down unspeakable terror, and mostly emerging victorious. Only Krug can spin a line like “I sleep all nights with the lights on / And dream of the sun king / Maybe because of the lights / Maybe because of the sun” into tragic gold. For a guy that doesn’t make much sense, it’s not hard to see what he means.

The album bogs down in the second half; I would’ve cut the fun-but-pointless “Two Men In New Tuxedoes” and “Yulia,” getting to the cathartic multiple climaxes of “Cave-O-Sapien” ten minutes faster. Five years ago I never would’ve argued against more Wolf Parade, but after all the work Krug and Boeckner do on the side, what I’m looking for here is focus and power – which the album delivers, mostly. “What Did My Lover Say?” gets my vote for best track, with the insistent “dun-dun-dun-DUN” rhythm that these guys fall back on when they want to really drive it home. And “Pobody’s Nerfect” finds the sweet spot in Boecker’s songwriting – it’s straightforward and propulsive, with Krug’s dreamy quirks integrated organically. There’s nothing outright bad here, and overall this is a stronger, more consistent showing than the mildly-received Zoomer. But, truth be told, Zoomer, for all it’s faults, remains my personal favorite WP record because of its cracks and strains – it was a picture of a band somewhat divided but driving forward anyhow, and you could hear them trying to decide where to go next.

Expo 86 doesn’t travel anywhere new. But it does present a fully unified picture of Wolf Parade’s strengths, which was probably necessary after releasing what most regarded as an unfortunate misstep. I’m plenty pleased with the material here, and when the band throws out something as weird and wooly as “Ghost Pressure” they capture my heart and imagination in the inimitable way that made them such a success in the first place. I like this record, and in time I’ll probably grow to love it, but I’m ultimately more interested in what strange turn these fellows make next. Expo 86 is the sound of the straight and narrow, and that’s not the road anybody wants to see Wolf Parade riding.