I started off intending to write a story set at Mount Zoomer, about someone stuck on an unknown mountain looking for a big monster. But I got lost myself so the idea is in vain.
Text: Omasum | Translation: dilettante

‘At Mount Zoomer’ is the second album of Montreal based Canadian band Wolf Parade. Mount Zoomer is the name of Arlen Thompson’s (the band’s drummer) studio, as opposed to a real mountain. It is where the post production of this album took place. (Apparently, apart from the association with Montreal post-rock band A Silver Mt. Zion, it is also a nickname for magic mushroom in B.C. Is it a coincidence that all the band members are from B.C.?)

ABOUT WOLF PARADE

Wolf Parade is formed in 2003. Spencer Krug, only just moved to Montreal, was invited by local indie label Grenadine Records to open for the then debuting Arcade Fire. He invited Dan Boeckner from the recently disbanded Atlas Strategic to work on some songs. Arlen became part of the band merely one week before the performance and they played as Wolf Parade. Hadji Bakara (responsible for DJ sound effect) and Dante DaCaro (guitarist from Hot Hot Heat) joined afterwards. Through the recommendation of Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse (who was looking over Dan back in the Atlas Strategic days), Wolf Parade was signed by Sub Pop Records.

After their much celebrated debut ‘Apologies to the Queen Mary’, Wolf Parade did not rush for another album but did quite the opposite. Dan and his wife Alexei Perry formed a duo called Handsome Furs in 2006; Spencer toured with Frog Eyes and played with other Canadian bands such as The Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake and Fifths of Seven; Dante formed a four-man-band called Johnny and the Moon. It is not until three years later that they release new album ‘At Mount Zoomer’.

‘AT MOUNT ZOOMER’

Like before, Spencer and Dan are responsible for the writing of ‘At Mount Zoomer’, there are 9 songs in total and the last song ‘Kissing the Beehive’ is co-written by both of them. Issac Brock produced most of the songs in ‘Apologies to the Queen Mary’, so it is inevitable that there is an undertone of Modest Mouse. This time round, Arlen single-handedly did it from Petite Église (an old church Arcade Fire bought to record the ‘Neon Bible’ album in 2007) to Mount Zoomer. If the Wolf Parade led by Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner was tired and uninspired in ‘Apologies to the Queen Mary’, then Dan and Spencer show their audience a whole new game with many possibilities this time.

This probably would explain why even without catchy tunes such as ‘Ground for Divorce’ and ‘Shine a Light’ in ‘Apologies to the Queen Mary’, ‘At Mount Zoomer’ makes a compulsive listening. The experience is intoxicating. The performance of the band with unique arrangement, topped with the indulging vocals of Dan and Spencer forms such a raw sound that makes me wonder if the songs would ever sound the same next time round.

I was slightly disappointed with my first round of ‘At Mount Zoomer’, because I could not find the otherworldly sound of Spencer. I was expecting more of it in the new album, but instead it sounded more like an attempt in vain to please a lover one no longer loves. Later I realised Spencer was trying to suppress his own voice and wanting to sing like Dan in ‘Apologies to the Queen Mary’. Only under the encouragement of more up beat melodies that Spencer let leak the true colour of his voice. In comparison to ‘At Mount Zoomer’, Dan’s voice carries the shaky quality of Spencer, the voice of someone under a spell like a voodoo doll.

Just like this Dan mutters ‘In my head there’s a city at night… but this place here is no friend of mine’ (‘Solder’s Grin’); Spencer answers ‘Well into the desert you must go / so into the desert we go / call it a ritual / call it whatever you will’ (‘Call it a Ritual’); and Dan responses ‘Oh the long bitter road / let us down / oh the ringing telephone / there’s no one around / we are not at home / we are not at home’ (‘Language City’); Spencer coldly answers ‘Oh do they beat that drum to get you back home / or do they beat it to keep you away… follow me / oh follow me / allow me to play the voyager’ (‘Bang that Drum’). In the blurry sentences, the two communicates with forgotten languages, about the melancholy and hopelessness of modern lives.

The album ended with the ten-minutes-long ‘Kissing the Beehive’. With a light-hearted jam, Dan and Spencer are like two who have given up the battle and surrender to the world. Without any pretension, singing a contradicting ‘I’m not a wild party / I’m just an evening at the show’. In my mind, I am picturing a monster called Wolf Parade muttering to himself on a mountain or other right in the beginning of all things. This is probably the end of the story.

Text: Omasum | Translation: dilettante | Update: 14 Oct 2008

FURTHER LISTENING:
Wolf Parade ‘Apologies to the Queen Mary’ (2005)
Stephen Malkmus & Jicks ‘Real Emotional Trash’ (2008)