WILDLIFE play tonight (Thursday, March 21) at the Great Hall as part of CMF. See listings. Rating: NN
Arcade Fire’s breakthrough album, Funeral, came out close to a decade ago, but its ripples are still being felt in ways both good and bad. The album shone a spotlight on Montreal’s fertile music scene and pushed indie rock into the mainstream, but its naked emotion and rafter-reaching catharsis also inspired a generation of bands like Wildlife that treat sweaty exuberance as a substitute for songwriting.
Described in their bio as “a love letter, a tribute to the heart itself,” the local band’s sophomore album uses quavering vocals and grandiose synth rock arrangements as shorthand for “passion,” transforming “emotional” from a quality into an aesthetic. Produced by Pater Katis (Interpol, the National), Gus Van Go and Werner F (the Stills, Hollerado), the disc introduces some dynamic range into the young band’s constantly crescendoing sound, which works better live as a beer-soaked shout-along.
Top track: Guillotine
