Wolf Parade announce first album in 7 years, share "Valley Boy"
Wolf Parade have finally officially announced their highly anticipated first album in seven years. It’s called Cry Cry Cry, and it follows 2010’s still-great Expo 86. The album drops on October 6 via Sub Pop (and Universal Music in Canada). This one was produced by John Goodmanson, who’s known for working with Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, Harvey Danger, and who did the new Cloud Nothings album.
Wolf Parade first reunited last year for some very spirited live shows and a four-song EP. Before they got working on the new full length, co-frontmen Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner put out new albums with their respective Moonface and Operators projects. Then they started posting updates from the studio, and announced from the stage at Boston Calling that the new album was finished. They played two songs from it at that show, including “Valley Boy,” which is Cry Cry Cry‘s lead single.
Spencer Krug takes lead on “Valley Boy,” and this song really says “we’re back” more than anything on last year’s EP did. It’s got not one but two of those classic singalong Krug hooks (the chorus and the “the radio’s been playing all your songs” line, a line Krug says about the late Leonard Cohen). As these live shows have been reminding us, Wolf Parade are not just great pop songwriters but they really know how to let loose as musicians, and the jammy instrumental bridge of “Valley Boy” is a fine example of that. Listen and watch an animated visual of the song (made by Scorpion Dagger) below.
Talking about this album compared to last one, drummer Arlen Thompson said, “All of our albums are always a reaction to our last one. Expo 86 was about as sparse as we get, which is usually still pretty dense, and this time we wanted to make the palette a little larger.” Bassist/guitarist Dante DeCaro added, “Expo was a real rock record. We just sort of banged it out, which was kind of the point.” And Dan Boeckner assures us: “There are two very long songs on the record… I don’t think it would be a Wolf Parade record if it didn’t have some kind of prog epic.” Considering a major highlight of their recent live shows has been the lengthy “Kissing the Beehive,” that’s good news.
Wolf Parade have tour dates coming up, including a handful of shows with their old Canadian-indie pals Arcade Fire (whose new album is out next week). Other dates on Arcade Fire’s tour include another group of Canadian indie staples, Broken Social Scene, who also recently released their first album in seven years. (Neither BSS nor Wolf Parade are on Arcade Fire’s MSG though, but BSS do play NYC festival The Meadows.)
All Wolf Parade dates are listed, with that new single and the album artwork and tracklist, below.
Tracklist
01 Lazarus Online
02 You’re Dreaming
03 Valley Boy
04 Incantation
05 Files on the Sun
06 Baby Blue
07 Weaponized
08 Who Are Ya
09 Am I an Alien Here
10 Artificial Life
11 King of Piss and Paper
Wolf Parade — 2017 Tour Dates
Jul 21 Capitol Hill Block Party Seattle, WA
Aug 18 Ponderosa Festival Kootenay Boundary, Canada
Sep 06 Centre Bell Centre Montreal, Canada*
Sep 08 Higher Ground Ballroom Burlington, VT*
Sep 09 Canadian Tire Centre Ottawa, Canada*
Sep 21 Infinite Energy Arena Duluth, GA*
Sep 22 USF Sun Dome Tampa, FL*
Sep 23 Watsco Center Coral Gables, FL*
Sep 24 Sing Out Loud Festival St Augustine, FL*
Sep 26 UNO Lakefront Arena New Orleans, LA*
Sep 27 Frank Erwin Center Austin, TX*
Sep 28 American Airlines Center Dallas, TX*
* – supporting Arcade Fire
