92. Wolf Parade - “Lazarus Online”

Like Lazarus, Wolf Parade returned from the dead in 2017 to grace our ears with music once more. It was a completely unexpected release for me, and that sense of surprise helped make an already exciting moment even more glorious. For those of you who don’t know, Wolf Parade and I have a bit of a history. Spencer Krug is immortalized within my trinity of Indie artists who have had the biggest impact on my life (alongside Yoni Wolf and Owen Ashworth). Wolf Parade (as well as Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake, and Frog Eyes) shaped my early musical journey in countless ways. I mean, just as an example, “Dear Sons And Daughters Of Hungry Ghosts“ was my ringtone throughout all of high school (which confused plenty of people who all of a sudden heard lo-fi discordant chanting fill the room) – but enough about the past, lets talk about the present, or rather 2017.

There’s a delicate balance long-time fans desire when listening to new releases from bands who have played seminal roles in their lives. These fans of course want their favorite bands to develop, evolve, and progress, but they also want a sense of continuity – for the band to stay true to themselves and to the sound or the process that made them become so endeared to begin with. Wolf Parade have struck that balance perfectly within this jam. It’s more mature and reserved than their earlier releases, and yet it possesses the same underlying sense of primal poetry that defines most Wolf Parade releases, almost as if Chaucer got lost in the wild and was forced to hunt and forage for food. There’s a guttural warmth to it, a cohesion that feels like it could unwind at any moment and get carried away in a chanting crescendo. Its a beautiful and delicate sense of chaos, and its wonderful to behold.