The first thing I ever heard about Wolf Parade was from the Arcade Fire’s Win Butler who said something like that they were the best band in Montreal or the best band he’d heard in years. Knowing that Win is into very little indie-rock I was curious to hear what set Wolf Parade apart. The first time I saw them play, they were opening for the Arcade Fire in Toronto and I liked them, though Elvis Costello and David Bowie jumped out too immediately as influences. Then I heard “Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts” and Wolf Parade went from being a band I was interested in, one with potential to do something good, to a band whose future output I wait for impatiently.
Upon listening to the tracks from their CBC session, I was struck by the sheer distinctiveness of Spencer’s voice - something that I didn’t take in listening to “Sons and Daughters,” a song whose vocal sermonizing seemed so integral to the perfect whole. On lesser songs, the vocals can seem over the top and affected. His voice is both an asset and a liability; it goes some distance in giving the band its own sound, but also demands that the songs be strong enough to support it, so that the vocal style does not immediately become cliched.
Wolf Parade - "I'll Believe In Anything, You'll Believe In Anything"
My editor, Max Maki says that this song reminds her of Sharon, Lois and Bram. I don’t know what she’s talking about, of course, but in the spirit of sharing...
The band’s other vocalist sounds exactly like Isaac Brock and Bruce Springsteen.