There are two ways to look at Wolf Parade’s much-anticipated sophomore LP, as a failure to replicate the infectious feel-goodery of 2005’s “Apologies to the Queen Mary,” or as a more complex, mature effort, a grower. I pick the latter.
Three years and a combined four critically-acclaimed side-project LPs after the birth of Wolf Parade, Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner have worked prolifically in their respective musical endeavors. For Krug, that means swirling circus keyboards, rich textures and vocals that oscillate ever so closely around any given pitch; for Boeckner, it’s a heavy lyrical drone layered over stripped-down guitar rhythms and perfectly timed, cheeky hooks.
Individually, they have fine-tuned their signature styles through their non-Wolf Parade efforts: Krug entertains his penchant for the theatrical with Sunset Rubdown and Swan Lake, and Boeckner strives for minimalism with Handsome Furs. But when the seeming foils combine their forces, they meet somewhere in the middle to capture the elusive marriage of extravagance and simplicity.
The album’s closer, the epic, entrancing, would-be namesake of the album, “Kissing the Beehive,” is a crystalline, pounding duet between Boeckner and Krug. Peppered with sparse percussion, its escalating, resonating guitar and pounding keys create the perfect soundscape for the two songwriters’ lyrical banter. The song reaches a climax seven minutes in, just before an extensive, proggy decrescendo gives the thing some time to sink in.