ALBUM REVIEW: “Expo 86″ by Wolf Parade

Artist: Wolf Parade
Album: Expo 86
Label: Sub Pop
Rating: 8.5

Two years after the critical success of their “At Mount Zoomer” record Wolf Parade return with a fluid, self-assured product.  Combining icy synth riffs with hard edged guitars, their sound this time around is decidedly more poppy.  That’s not to say you’re gonna be hearing anyone covering these songs on the next season of American Idol, but the added melody provides a little more room making it all seem a trifle less claustrophobic. In short this is a band who have found their groove.

The album’s opener, the driving “Palm Road”, sounds like a mix of the Dead Kennedy’s and… gasp.. The Killers. Other highlights include the circa 1984 Springsteen-esque “Pobody’s Nerfect”, the radio-friendly “Yulia” and the frenetic new wave-sy “Cave-o-Sapien”.

Among recent releases by their contemporaries, “Expo 86″  fits right in with its eighties through a blender vibe, which seems to be the fad of the year. 

The tunes are right and tight and the boys from Montreal definitely seem to know exactly where they’re at and where they’re going, but is that enough these days?

Yes, I can sure hear a bunch of these tunes getting airplay.  The question is though, “Who exactly is listening, and why should they?

The thing is, it’s all very pleasing to the ear the first few times around, but I’m not sure it’s really saying anything, and I don’t know if that’s what’s needed right now.

Still, it’s a damn site better than Lady Gaga or Ke$ha so maybe in the end it’s a good thing we’ve got bands out there, like Wolf Parade, chipping away, stone by stone, at least attempting to unearth us from our graves.

… and I guess I just answered my own question.

Bravo fellas!!