CD Review

You can blame The Arcade for Montreal suddenly losing the biggest secret in rock title. And you can blame The Arcade Fire for bringing art rockers Wolf Parade out on tour and transforming them into the North Country’s overnight sensation. Course it doesn’t hurt that guitarist Dan Boeckner moonlighted on guitar with The Arcade Fire and the Arcade Fire’s Tim Kingsbury plays drums on three tracks on Apologies to the Queen Mary. While we’re at it, it also doesn’t hurt that Wolf Parade got to open for Modest Mouse and that Isaac Brock was chosen as producer for their full length, Sub Pop debut. For a band that formed in April of 2003, Wolf Parade have certainly embraced a few early breaks.

Following a summer EP, Apologies to the Queen Mary offers a little of everything- synthesizers, angular rhythms and disarming melodies that make it a close cousin to a Modest Mouse record. But Wolf Parade throw in danceable beats, fist pumping anthems and broad novel themes to make it distinctly their own. The larger-than-life “Shine A Light” could have made it as the summer’s breakout hit, while “Modern World” is pure mood rock at its finest. They could use a slightly filthier sound, which was apparently smoothed out with overemphasis on production, but underneath, it’s in there. There’s no denying these Canadians are hungry like the wolf.