When Wolf Parade released Apologies to the Queen Mary in the Summer of 2005, they were immediately embraced as Montreal's next big thing. This is funny to think about now because the more that time passes, the less it seems like Wolf Parade were ever a real band. Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug, each with at least three other projects under their belts, have established themselves as songwriting titans with very different sounds. When Wolf Parade were still together, it became progressively clear across their releases who was responsible for which songs, until Expo 86 just sounded like a Handsome Furs album and Sunset Rubdown album mashed together. The same was true with their live performances, where they switched off lead vocals like they were running a two man show. It was all good material, and their splintering never had the vitriol of a Lennon/McCartney scenario, but it was clear by the end that Wolf Parade was a shared stepping stone for two songwriters on very different paths.But on Apologies to the Queen Mary, Wolf Parade sounded like a tight, powerful, unified, fresh, and exciting band. They were better than the sum of their parts, which is saying a lot considering the parts they were made of. Krug had already established himself as a luminary songwriter with Frog Eyes and Sunset Rubdown, Dante DeCaro had just left Hot Hot Heat and was one of Canada's most ingenious guitarists, Boeckner had released two albums with the under appreciated Atlas Strategic, and Arlen Thompson was one of Montreal's most sought after drummers, playing not least on "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire. Then there was Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse producing the album, giving a the band certain sonic consistency that was absent from their subsequent self-produced releases. They were hyped up as an indie rock supergroup and actually delivered.Together they introduced a sound that countless bands have tried to copy but none have gotten right. It was a perfect balance of grit, noise, and emotional urgency. Krug and Boeckner sang beautiful tunes through rough, strained voices, as if bearing their souls on a late drunken night at the darkest, smokiest, loudest bar in the city. The band's scratchy guitars, vocal howls, and hammering drums hid the fact that there were perfect and pristine pop songs underneath. It's this foundation that makes Apologies to the Queen Mary only get better with age. "Shine a Light" still soars above the haze like a long lost Springsteen song, "Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" falls somewhere between a stomping pub song and cyclone of noise, and "This Heart's On Fire" is a rough confessional love song that would put Lloyd Dobler to shame.Then there's "I'll Believe in Anything," arguably Wolf Parade's greatest achievement, and certainly one of the best rock songs of the decade. From the call-to-arms snare at the beginning, to Krug's yearning vocals, to the explosive outro, "I'll Believe in Anything" strikes the perfect balance between originality and hard-hitting, visceral emotion. It comes off like a simple song, but if you listen closely (or try to cover it with a band), you realize it's a winding, complex, almost prog-like composition, with numerous time changes and parts that shouldn't fit together. Its powerful delivery is perhaps the greatest testament to Wolf Parade's capacity as a band, and to Spencer Krug's prodigious songwriting abilities.The story of Wolf Parade is not one of a band that never topped their debut album, because their later releases also killed. Comparing Expo 86 to Apologies to the Queen Mary is like comparing The White Album to Rubber Soul - one is the sound of great artists working without constraints but separately, the other is the sound of great artists pooling their talents. This is what makes Apologies to the Queen Mary such a precious musical moment: it happened once, and it'll never happen again. Not because Wolf Parade couldn't get their shit together, but because the band was made of four talented, hungry, ever-evolving musicians who never dwell on any one thing for too long.Greg Bouchard is a writer living in Toronto - @GregoryBouchard
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