Album Review : Wolf Parade - Expo 86
- Written by Russell Warfield
The members of Wolf Parade are still riding the momentum generated by their rapturously received debut album – they’ve managed to maintain high standards under the name of Wolf Parade whilst arguably simultaneously surpassing themselves with various side projects. Indeed, the fact that Krug and Boeckner have both recently released their respective side projects’ most critically lauded albums might be the reason why the two Wolf Parade songwriters seem less eager to assert themselves over each other on new album Expo 86. Having firmly established themselves on their own terms with Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs, Wolf Parade seem to have regrouped with a stronger disposition towards collaborating with each other rather than trying to outdo each other.
From the opening bars of ‘Cloud Shadow on the Mountain’, the keys and guitars call and respond in the spirit of teamwork rather than competition – the first signifier of an album-long process whereby Krug and Boeckner relinquish the sovereignty of their stylistic identities. Two of the album’s immediate highlights go a long way to subvert the conventions of each songwriter’s respective techniques: Krug’s ‘What Did My Lover Say?’ marches with a stomp to the sort of chunky guitar work that would normally signify a Boeckner jam whereas Boeckner’s ‘Ghost Pressure’ grooves to thick layers of synthesisers usually indicative of Krug’s work. The songwriters may still often play to their own strengths (check Boeckner’s power anthem ‘Pobody’s Nerfect’ for a great example) but Expo 86 undoubtedly begins the dissolution of any binary distinction between Boeckner and Krug.
The successful musical explorations of the bands’ side projects also help to explain why these songs feel a little more reigned in than one might expect. Having plumbed the depths of weirdness with the last couple of Sunset Rubdown albums, Krug and the rest of Wolf Parade seem a little happier to lean upon big hooks and conventional verse-chorus setups on this record. But just because these song structures aren’t the labyrinthine tangle of thorns you might find on a Sunset Rubdown album doesn’t mean that they’re predictable or dull: most of the songs comfortably outstretch the five minute mark as they twist and turn their way between choruses and descend into unforeseeable diversions. As ‘Palm Road’ collapses in upon itself through an ever increasing tempo, we’re reminded very early in the album that we’ll always one step behind the band and that the listener never sees the finishing posts of these songs before Wolf Parade do.
As with anything that Krug touches, Expo 86 doesn’t fully shake off the band’s proggy tendencies; the record requires repeated listens to let the songs unravel and release hidden, festering hooks. On the other hand, sections like the unashamedly sing-along, bubblegum coda of ‘Cave-O-Sapien’ push Expo 86 into some of the most accessible waters these musicians have ever chartered either together or with their various other outfits. It would seem unfair, however, to overly criticise Expo 86 for being comparatively two dimensional when we consider how dizzyingly high the bar has been set by the band’s sprawling collective output over the last few years. Two dimensional for Krug and Boeckner is an opus for most indie bands so while Expo 86 might struggle to slay any dragons, and it need not offer its apologies to the Queen Mary, it nevertheless holds ground as a worthy and welcome addition to the Wolf Parade catalogue.