The album art. Yeah. I have no idea either. To quote how Stereogum put it so wonderfully: "A mountain of zoomers, indeed."Yes ladies and gentlemen, it is the long awaited sequel to "Apologies to the Queen Mary." I myself have been waiting in quiet agony and anticipation. I have been terrified; terrified because "Apologies" was so fucking good, this album was taking to fucking long, and, Spencer Krug was devoting the fruit of labor all to Sunset Rubdown and it's smash hit, hell-of-an-album 2007 release "Random Spirit Lover."
All those things drove me into a frenzy.
I downloaded At Mount Zoomer the day after it leaked and it sat in my iTunes for another day and then I was ready to listen.
My initial reaction was "What the hell did I just hear?"
After letting it sit in my head, like waiting for alcohol to hit, I was still baffled. What was that?
I listened again.
Nothing hitting me.
The first track intrigued me, as did the closing one, a long epic song sitting at 10:47.
After a bit, I grew to love three of the songs very much, but none of them thrilled me like "Apologies".
This is not to say it's not a good album. This is also not a "Ugh I'm such an elitist Wolf Parade fan, I know everything about them blah blah blah." No. This is an honest to God response to the album.
Because, really, it is a good album. Great in fact. The songs are different, interesting, originally structed; the lyrics are wonderful and there are parts that really draw you in. It is rich in spirit. I can see it being very popular in fact. It's just, it didn't kickstart me. It didn't make me go "Wolf Parade, you have done it again." The alcohol, so to say, just never hit me, even if the drink still tasted great.
I do recommend it, though. Usually I like to end these posts with "You may hate it." or "You may love it." but the truth is I don't know. I do not know anything for certain this time. What "At Mount Zoomer" has produced is new and intriguing, also at once confusing and stunning. All of this at once too, on one album. That has got to be something. Who knows? Maybe after a few more listens, I will fall in love.
And now, a short list of...
What "At Mount Zoomer" sounds like:
-truthful rocking out
-a slightly tired Wolf Parade
-your friends rolling around your room, high
-Spencer Krug forcing Sunset Rubdown in Wolf Parade's face
-the tragic tale of a knight in armor who never reaches his goal
-Wolf Parade experimenting. And thats good.
WOAH HEY GUYS LEAK LINK
On attempting to find a copy of this rich deep and different album for my friend, I found none. Well, either you're gonna like to so much you buy it or you wouldn't have bought it anyway, so, please enjoy:
WOLF PARADE - AT MOUNT ZOOMER:
hxxp://www.sendspace.com/file/9y958b LINK BROKEN
sorry guys...subpop is all over the blogosphere's asses. Subpop, just rest assured, we will buy it or we won't. God damn. Let us tailor it and decide. We are music connoisseurs.