Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary

Wolf Parade is from Montreal; they’ve been together a little over two years now. Montreal, if you hadn’t already noticed, is the latest city to be made collectively nauseous with media attention, having been anointed (with articles in The New York Times and SPIN, amongst others) as the “most influential scene in American music.” And, with such exports as Potion 13 and Soul Haven, it’s little wonder. All that hullabaloo aside, Wolf Parade is the genuine article and they were brought to our attention by Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock (whose interest dates back to Dan’s previous band, Atlas Strategic). In fact, Isaac, along with engineer Chris Chandler, recorded much of Apologies to the Queen Mary at Audible Alchemy in Portland, OR. The album is an entirely collaborative effort, reeling headlong and breathless through songs written throughout Wolf Parade’s time together as a band. They’ve spent time on tour with Modest Mouse and The Arcade Fire, played last year’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in California, self-released two limited ed. EPs, and have a song (a cover of Frog Eyes’ “Claxxon’s Lament”) on The Believer magazine’s recent covers comp. And then there’s this little thing: Time magazine (albeit their Canadian edition) picked Wolf Parade as one of “Canada’s Most Anticipated Indie Albums of the Year.” Expect to see and hear much more from them. (Sub Pop Records)