NYLON - August 2008 - (Page 129) LEADERS OF THE PACK When bored, the four endearingly awkward members of Wolf Parade sometimes play Flounder or Flourish, a game invented by keyboardist Hadji Baraka. “You try to figure out the era in which each of your friends would flourish or flounder,” explains singer and guitarist Dan Boeckner, chomping on a bagel dipped in what he calls “fire-retardant salmon foam” (actually salmon-flavored cream cheese). “Hadji’s Flourish was early ’80s Manchester,” he continues. “Mine was early ’80s East Berlin. And my Flounder was pretty much everywhere else.“ Sitting in a low-key Montreal café sporting old-man pants and what appear to be accidental haircuts, their bicycles parked outside, these reluctant rock stars—no stylists allowed, ever—blend right in with the neighborhood’s artsy kids and Portuguese grandpas. Two of the three band members present are hung over, but still manage a witty debate about the respective merits of Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk versus Mirage. And, of course, they have plenty to say about their own sophomore effort, At Mount Zoomer, just released on Seattle’s Sub Pop records. In 2005, Wolf Parade’s sweaty live shows and acclaimed debut Apologies to the Queen Mary introduced the Victoria, B.C.-bred, Montreal-based rockers to the world. These days, all of the members have successful side projects. Boeckner, the showman, is in duo Handsome Furs with wife Alexei Perry. Fellow frontman, baby-faced singer and keyboardist Spencer Krug, heads up Sunset Rubdown. Baraka is one-half of Megasoid alongside Robert Squire, better known as Sixtoo. (Baraka also just completed his master’s degree in literature.) Drummer Arlen Thompson, a shy, grinning fellow with a firm handshake and excellent beard, has a noise outfit called Transylvania and he also produced Wolf Parade’s new album. “All my favorite records were made before 1982,” Thompson says of At Mount Zoomer’s loose, experimental, almost psychedelic vibe. “My idea was to make a record that kind of felt like those records, and be one that With their excellent new album, At Mount Zoomer, Canada’s Wolf Parade are guaranteed to flourish in 2008. By Simona Rabinovitch. Photographed by Jaime Leblanc I wanted to listen to.” And so, last summer the quartet synchronized their watches and sequestered themselves in a secluded countryside church-turned-studio owned by Arcade Fire. “You wake up in the morning—or, really, wake up at like noon,” says Thompson of the 12-day session, “then have a coffee and record until four or five in the morning.” “It was hot, like 38 degrees [Celsius],” Boeckner adds. “I have very pleasant memories like taking a break to barbeque a big hunk of meat.” “There weren’t a lot of vegetables,” Thompson recalls. “Just beef and booze,” says Boeckner. “And fireworks.” “And a lot of bacon,” Baraka adds. “I remember Hadji projectile-vomiting red wine into the bathroom at 4:00 a.m…” says Boeckner. Whatever the cost, their intensity paid off. Layered, full, and engineered with minimal effects so each sound has room to breathe, the exquisite album effortlessly draws you in with clangy pop hits like “Language City” and “Fine Young Cannibals.” Other tracks capture the improvised magic of jam sessions, like the sexy, achy “California Dreamer” and the trippy 11-minute cacophony of “Kissing the Beehive.” “On our last record, Spencer and I were writing nearly fully-realized songs then bringing them to the band and we’d rewrite them,” Boeckner says. “This one was pure psychic jamming.” Lyrically, songwriters Boeckner and Krug tend to keep things simple, but that wasn’t the case during the making of At Mount Zoomer. “Spencer writes what he sings and I write what I sing and we try not to tell anybody in the band what we’re singing unless absolutely necessary,” says Boeckner. “But for ‘Kissing the Beehive’ we had to show each other our lyrics, and it was the psychological equivalent of Spencer and I standing in a white room, both taking our pants down, and staring into each other’s eyes.”
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