Time away from your work can make you fall back in love with it again. This has been the case for Canadian indie-rock veterans Wolf Parade, who’ve returned with their first album in seven years. Following the release of Expo 86 they’d run out of steam and couldn’t muster the mental and physical energy to enter into another creative period. However, the hunger is back and with it comes soaring choruses, rousing anthems, sprawling guitars and chaotic keys in what is a thunderous return to form.

Despite never achieving major commercial success, the unique combination of sounds and influences, spearheaded by co-frontmen Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner, Wolf Parade helped define 2000s indie-rock. Cry Cry Cry marks their first album to be produced by John Goodmanson at Robert Lang Studios near Seattle.

“The band itself is almost a fifth member of the band, something more or at least different than the sum of its parts,” explained Krug, in a statement on the return. “We don't know who or what is responsible for our sound, it's just something that naturally and consistently comes from this particular combo of musicians. Once we got back together, I was playing guitar, writing and singing in a way that I only do while I'm in Wolf Parade. It’s just something that I can't access without the other three people in the room,” added Boeckner.

Opener ‘Lazarus Online’ kicks things off at vigilant pace, with the piano piece slowly building up in what are some fine production skills from Goodmanson. The Boeckner number ‘You’re Dreaming’ soon follows in what is a simplified Springsteen-esque number, whilst ‘Valley Boy’ is more of a Bowie anthem for which Spencer wrote lyrics after Leonard Cohen died the day before the 2016 election: “The radio’s been playing all your songs/Talking about the way you slipped away up the stairs/Did you know that it was all gonna go wrong?”

Meanwhile, ‘Baby Blue’ is the LP’s centrepiece and one for the long suffering fanatics who have been waiting seven years for new material. It gradually evolves into an intoxicating freak-out before ‘Weaponized’ arrives in the form of a groove-laden beast that quickly transforms somewhat unpredictably into a piano number.

Donald Trump is again referenced on the infectious Krug-penned ‘Who Are Ya’- “You wanna move toward the light/You wanna stay in the dark,” whilst Boeckner sings of wanting to flee from dictatorial ruling on the vigorous ‘Artificial Life’. The rhythm section then comes to the fore on ‘Am I An Alien Here’ which also possesses an instantaneous melody.

Closer ‘King of Piss and Paper’ is then the most obvious confrontation of the US President which ends in a cathartic call of: “The king is coming down the fucking hall to kill us all.” It caps off an album of renewed determination in uncertain times. Wolf Parade have re-found their inspiration and remain an intelligent, thought provoking band.

Paul Hill

Website: wolfparade.com
Facebook: facebook.com/wolfparademusic
Twitter: twitter.com/wolfparade