Wolf Parade: At Mount Zoomer

Artist: Wolf Parade
Album: At Mount Zoomer
Label: Sub Pop
Rating: VIII

Early on in 2008 I had made a prediction that At Mount Zoomer would be my record of the year. Spencer Krug has been on fire, releasing two Sunset Rubdown records since the Sub Pop debut of Wolf Parade’s Apologies to the Queen Mary in 2005 - all of which have been in my top three records for those years. Dan Boeckner plunked out a Handsome Furs record with his wife in 2007 as well, which as a whole was pretty enjoyable. Amidst all that, they still managed to get out At Mount Zoomer this year and are going to be touring behind it starting July 7th.

Let me first start off by saying I had heard At Mount Zoomer was bad by friends who were big Wolf Parade fans. Up until a few weeks ago, I hadn’t heard more than three songs and was keeping an open mind. Upon approaching any record, I feel one really needs to give it a listen, and I believe this to be very true for At Mount Zoomer. This isn’t a one-time-listen-throw-it-away kind of record. It took me over fifteen listens to get where I’m at with it.

I’ll just get any negative views out of the way now. Admittedly, even after a lot of listens, I feel the record as whole drags just a hair in a few places. This I find a bit more evident in Dan’s songs in that sometimes they seem to have a bit more sameness to them. Spencer however does swoop in and add some catchy piano parts to liven it up as in “Language City” and “Grey Estates”. That being said, I still find that Dan’s songs are growing and he has a gem in there called “Fine Young Cannibals” that has great guitar parts with an intriguing sparseness to it.

As the reader might have put together, Spencer Krug is one of my heroes. What he does in music (to me) has never been done and he constantly pushes the boundaries. I do feel like I have heard him do better though, and the songs Spencer brought to the record have more of a Sunset Rubdown feel to them in style and sound…but a little more on the b-side of things. This is speaking from a very high standard though and I still really enjoy his songs on this record.

It seems evident in At Mount Zoomer that Spencer and Dan have very different songwriting styles more than their other records and EPs. Spencer’s songs have his usual dark haunting feel to them, pretty different lyrics and thoughts, and Dan’s tend to be on the lighter, more driving side of things. Yet this record still has an odd continuity which brings it all together, as happened with Apologies as well. The production is quite different from what Wolf Parade has done before too. At Mount Zoomer as a whole also has more of a mashed together sound. The drums are more dead and set back and the guitar is a bit more raw and wanky in places. Apologies is really roomy, separated, powerful and really in your face from beginning to end. I had heard that they didn’t want to just make another Wolf Parade record, and after listening to At Mount Zoomer a lot, I really am appreciating this. I feel I have to keep listening because with each pass I feel I learn something new. If it was just another catchy explosion, there’s a chance it would just fade away after a week of listening.

There really are some great songs and parts of songs that really grab my attention throughout the record. “California Dreamers” takes off thirty seconds in and has a sense of urgency to it until the bridge, where you get a break for a second, before it slams away until slowly dying at the end again. “Animal In Your Care” starts off slow with the vocals being VERY roomy, but then half-way through breaks into a bouncy oriental rock jam to finish the song. The record closes with Dan and Spencer taking turns on lead vocals. Near the end, the song breaks into a really catchy bridge with Spencer leaping in with “Jonathan, Jonathan waterfalls are running thin you know, here’s a holy grail for you to hold, fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole” accompanied with a great chord progression in what appears to be the outro of the song. After a few-second pause, the song breaks into another part that’s entirely different which is the real outro and a great way to close the record.

I have never been one to focus on the lyrics of Dan and Spencer, but what I have heard I have enjoyed. Old songs like “This Heart’s on Fire” is amazing lyrically and really hits home with what Dan was trying to communicate. Spencer equals it up in “You Are a Runner and I Am My Father’s Son” and “I’ll Believe in Anything”. In At Mount Zoomer, nothing really sticks out lyrically, but nothing is disappointing either. I feel that At Mount Zoomer was partly created for the listener to grab at the lyrics and general communication; it’s not laid out for the superficial listener. I am still on a bit of a journey with the record, which is still exciting and growing. As with the sound and style of the record, I expect to keep learning and understanding it lyrically. All of it makes up what is At Mount Zoomer, and in the end it could still be my record of the year.

End Scene,
Dan Tana