Climbing Mount Panorama

At Mount Zoomer
Wolf Parade
Sub Pop, 2008
4 stars

Is anyone else really over the word 'wolf' yet? For the past few years it's been popping up in band and song titles all over the place, but while other wolfy acts retreated back into their caves never to be seen again, Quebec's Wolf Parade have emerged from theirs, snarling like the toothy black beast from Neverending Story. Mount Zoomer (named after the studio in which it was recorded) is an exhilarating, cinematic indie rock epic in nine parts, with Spencer Krug's wavering vocals bouncing across sonic landscapes littered with repeated electric guitar chords, energetic piano lines and tasteful space synths. It's hard to single out standout tracks because Mount Zoomer plays so well in its entirity, though the ecstatic Language City and riff-heavy Fine Young Cannibals are fantastic. As a package - artwork included - it's a ripper.

Artwork: A
Sub Pop have done some great work recently (the packaging of No Age's Nouns was spectacular), and they don't buck the trend with Mount Zoomer, tucking a nice poster and decorated CD slip-case inside a nice cardboard pocket. The artwork itself - by Elizabeth Huey and Matt Moroz - is like a mix of Chris Johanson and David Shrigley, with figures and patterns laid over each other in Photoshop to form this great, vastly interesting analogue mess. Ten points.

Published in mX, Thursday June 26, 2008