Wolf Parade's Apologies to the Queen Mary was one of the finest indie rock albums of the 00's, perfectly paced, nearly filler-free, with about as strong a closing set of 4 or so songs you're gonna find put to plastic. This doesn't hang together quite as flawlessly on the album scale, but its grandfather's* peer in its ability to deliver unstoppable songs full of propulsive beats, scathing guitars, buzzed-out bass, and hysteria-laced grasps at the infinite, all laser straight or knuckleballing headward, as the situation demands.
Its that combination of relentlessly, energetically straightforward, peppered with little unpredictable bursts, that is at the heart of Wolf Parade, where relentless, anthemic calls to arms like Palm Road provide relief from the herky-jerky histrionics of Cloud Shadow on the Mountain, followed by What Did My Lover Say? which takes turns at both, sometimes at the same time. Expo 86 swings a bit too close to the anthemic side and doesn't take as many chances as I'd like to see a band on its third album taking, but it does the sound justice. Doing what you do well, when what you do is this broadly defined and interesting, aint such a bad thing 4/5
* apparently greatness skips a generation, as sophomore effort At Mt. Zoomer was a murky mess by comparison
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