Wolf Parade seems to me like the perfect music to listen to while reading the Letters of Andrew Jackson. So I’m going to do a track-by-track review of Wolf Parade’s At Mount Zoomer while learning more about our 7th president. Multitasking is fun!

Soldier’s Grin: Hey, perfect! Andrew Jackson was a general! This song starts good, but in all, its kinda boring and about 2 minutes too long though. It’s all the rage in indie to pretend to be Bruce Springsteen, I guess.

Call it a Ritual: This song is about 2 minutes too long also. By the way, the song is 2 minutes and 47 seconds long. I dig the harmonies though. Neither of the first two songs sound any different from anything on Apologies to the Queen Mary.

Language City: Andrew Jackson spelled leisure “liesure.” Apparently, General Jackson didn’t know about the exceptions to I before E except C. Meanwhile, this song is pretty awesome. It’s pretty fast, and reminds me of Arcade Fire in its best moments (like “Power Out”). It has some tempo changes, and is catchy as all hell. Despite being longer than its predecessors, this song does not need to be any shorter.

Bang Your Drum: Here, Wolf Parade has hit its groove. This song isn’t as good as “Language City,” but is still pretty good. It starts slow, builds up, then slows down again. It definitely has its moments.

California Dreamer: I think this is what the Yeah Yeah Yeahs would sound like without Karen O. There’s a really prominent keyboard section in what I think is the chorus, and the keyboard makes it awesome. But without the keyboard, the song seems to be missing something, like Wolf Parade just banged it out at the last minute. It’s also, dare I say it, proggy? When they’re rocking out, this song is amazing. Unfortunately, the whole song isn’t like that. I guess I should mention that the song clocks in at 6:03.

The Grey Estates: Definitely one of the poppier songs on the album. Definitely not a bad thing. Really catchy, but still enough weirdness that I know my girlfriend would hate it (right now, she really likes that Miley Cyrus song).

Fine Young Cannibals: She drives me crazy (ooo ooo)! Like no one else! Oh wait, this song has nothing to do with band from the 80’s. Except the keyboard section, which really could have come out of the 80’s. The song is really slow and drawn out, and even has a saxophone. I’m sure some people will love this song, but I’m not one of them.

An Animal In Your Care: Now that’s a falsetto. It’s impossible to ignore the David Bowie impression going on. If Wolf Parade were a pop-punk band, this would be panned as emo. Regardless, the melodies are pretty good, and the song really builds up into something great. And the lyrics aren’t bad by any means, just kinda emo. Not one of the best songs on the album, but after a slow start, it really came through. Much like reading about the 1824 election! Oh Henry Clay, you lovable scamp.

Kissing the Beehive: If you haven’t noticed, I don’t like songs that are too long. And this is 10:47. Anyway, the vocals are actually a duet for the most part here, which works really well. They try to make the song epic though, and that doesn’t work. When there’s vocals, this is the best song on the album, but I just can’t get into the instrumental parts. I tried, but every time, I just want them to be over. The song does stop momentarily, but then starts back up again, and another instrumental part. This song is definitely proggy, but not in a good way.

Overall, I like this a lot. The good songs are great (including “Kissing The Beehive, which is easy to stop listening to before its too late), and the bad ones aren’t that bad - and there are more good ones than bad ones. Sometimes, Wolf Parade gets too caught up in trying to be proggier-than-thou, but when they don’t, it’s a great rock record. No corrupt bargain here.

Label: Sub Pop

Release date: June 17

Rating: 7/10

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