93. Wolf Parade - “C’est La Vie Way”

Wolf Parade was one of my first true Indie loves. I remember rocking out to them in high school, raptly listening and feeling as if I had stumbled across a secret window, an opening into a whole new and expansive world of what music could be. Spencer Krug’s lyrics have always been pure poetry to me, and although he’s had other projects in the interim, there was always something special about the Wolf Parade iteration of his artistry.

The band has a certain cohesion to them, a raw sort of energy that’s refined yet spastic, and fully on display in this track. They’re older and wiser, but the age hasn’t tarnished them. It’s only brought out more wit, and deeper, more sincere and less affected observations.

This track specifically sounds like it comes from someone on the verge of curmudgeonhood. It’s someone who has seen too much, and as a result sees the inherent emptiness in everything. They see all of the falsely inflated substance for what it is. They see straight through the bullshit, the trivial and contrived notions that get heaped with so much empty weight and significance. They know enough of life to know what they like, to be a critic, pessimistic and optimistic all at once, optimistic in their pessimism, judging everything in an attempt to carry it toward something greater, to mold it in their image and finally wed their subjectivity to objectivity.