Wolf Parade - Expo 86 3.5/5
Montreal band, Wolf Parade find a darker groove on their third release Expo 86. Opener "Cloud Shadow on the Mountain" holds no punches, eluding to the elements that provide the frame work for most of the band's latest offering, from reverb-saturated guitars, to glossy synthesizers and pulsing drums. "Palm Road", a thundering, Springsteen-esque rocker, fails to excite feeling like an Arcade Fire, b-side.
Expo 86 is weighed down in darker tones and the boys' own neuroses, highlights like the funky, mechanical groove of "Ghost Pressure" with glamorous keyboards, or the marching drum beat of "Yulia", make the experience lighter. The boys have traded in their tight production of At Mount Zoomer for a looser sound, that helps breathe life into tracks like the climatic-closer "Cave-O-Sapien". For a record unified by it's themes and mood it somehow feels aimless, but if that's the worse criticism then they must be doing something right.
1 comment:
wolf parade are ridiculous T. i hadn't yet heard a couple you mentioned so I went looking for them. fucking awesome.
I got hooked after I heard "What Did My Lover Say" . Anyway, thanks for posting.
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