Wolf Parade – Cry Cry Cry
Wolf Parade are firing on all cylinders with their first album in seven years
Sometimes, you just need some time away from your work to truly love it again. At the turn of the decade, Montreal indie-rock darlings Wolf Parade had run out of steam, taking a much-needed hiatus only half a decade on from their zeitgeist-making album Apologies to the Queen Mary.
In the interim, principal songwriters Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner worked on various solo projects with no clear indication that the much-loved 2000s act would return. However, just past the 10 year anniversary of their mega-hyped debut, a countdown appeared on a newly designed website, which would eventually announce a new EP and victory-lap tour.
Now, a new full-length baring the Wolf Parade name is upon us and the renewed sense of vigour the band exerts is immediately palpable on joyous opener Lazarus Online. From there, the album whizzes through like a hypothetical Wolf Parade best-of, including single You're Dreaming, perhaps the band's poppiest effort to date. Meanwhile, Flies on the Sun builds to a raucous crescendo in the shape of a "classic" Boeckner guitar solo.
The album's centre indulges in the band's well-established proggy flourishes in two six-minute-plus voyages (Baby Blue & Weaponized), giving each of the dual-frontmen a moment to shine, whereas the punchier numbers Who Are Ya and Am I An Alien Here which immediately follow help bring the listener back round. We may never get another album as breathtaking as Wolf Parade's debut, but it's great to have them firing on all cylinders once again.
Listen to: You're Dreaming, Flies on the Sun, Am I Am Alien Here?