''At Mount Zoomer'', the second full length LP from the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Wolf Parade Wolf Parade is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2003 in Montreal. The band released three full-length albums before taking a five-year hiatus in 2011. They announced their return in 2016, releasing a self-titled EP in May of that year, and a ...

, was released on June 17, 2008.Wolf Parade Discography
"''At Mount Zoomer'' - SP720"
''Sub Pop Records'', retrieved April 29, 2008.

Album title

The album is named after Wolf Parade drummer Arlen Thompson's sound studio, Mount Zoomer; the name of the studio references "a B.C. euphemism for

magic mushrooms Psilocybin mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms, are a polyphyletic informal group of fungi that contain psilocybin which turns into psilocin upon ingestion. Biological genera containing psilocybin mushrooms include ''Psilocybe'', '' P ...

", and also nods to the Montreal band A Silver Mount Zion. The album was originally meant to be entitled ''Kissing the Beehive''; however, due to possible copyright infringements in relation to

Jonathan Carroll Jonathan Samuel Carroll (born January 26, 1949) is an American fiction writer primarily known for novels that may be labelled magic realism, slipstream or contemporary fantasy. He has lived in Austria since 1974. Life and work Carroll was ...

's 1997 novel of the same name, this title was changed. Singer and keyboardist

Spencer Krug Spencer Krug ( ) (born May 4, 1977) is a Canadian musician. He is the singer, songwriter and keyboardist for the indie rock band Wolf Parade and also records under the name Moonface. He has also performed with other Canadian bands including Sun ...

said that the band "didn't know that was the title of a book... We might have to change it, but we might not. And we'll have to make it clear that it's not amedafter his book. It's a complicated situation." It had also been reported earlier by ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...

'' that the record was entitled ''Pardon My Blues''; however, on April 28,

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are oft ...

officially announced that the album's name would be ''At Mount Zoomer''.

Album overview

The band started playing new songs live that would end up on ''At Mount Zoomer'' as early as summer 2007. Among the first to be played were "Language City" and "Fine Young Cannibals". According to singer and guitarist Dan Boeckner, half of the album was recorded in

Farnham, Quebec Farnham is a city in Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality in the Estrie region of Quebec, Canada. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 10,149, making it the second most populated community in the RCM. History The city of ...

at Petite Église, an old church that was converted to a recording studio by the band

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member ...

for the production of their album ''

Neon Bible ''Neon Bible'' is the second studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire. It was first released on March 5, 2007, in Europe and a day later in North America by Merge Records. Originally announced on December 16, 2006, through the band's ...

''.Radio Free Canuckistan
"Dan Boeckner Interview"
December 12, 2007. After touring the east coast in late 2007, Wolf Parade recorded the rest of ''At Mount Zoomer'' at MIXart Studios in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

. Afterwards, the album was mixed at Arlen Thompson's sound studio, Mount Zoomer. The cover art for the album features the work of Matt Moroz and Elizabeth Huey, depicting a battle scene between the two artists. The track "Call It a Ritual" was released by the band on April 14, 2008.Mark Richardson
"Wolf Parade: "Call It A Ritual" - Mp3 Stream"
''Pitchfork Media'', April 14, 2008.

Reception

''At Mount Zoomer'' received positive reviews from critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the album holds a score of 78 out of 100 based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Track listing

Personnel

– mixing, producing, "overdubs and vocals recorded by" *

Harris Newman Harris Newman is a mastering engineer working out of Grey Market Mastering in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His studio shares a building with the Hotel2Tango recording studio, as well as Constellation Records. Newman has mastered hundreds of albums ...

– mastering * Arlen Thompson – recording (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6-8), "one vocal recorded by" * David Ferry – recording (tracks 3, 5, 9) * Nick Petrowski – recording (tracks 3, 5, 9) * David Smith – "some vocals recorded by" * Jace Lasek – "some vocals recorded by" * Elizabeth Huey – artwork * Matt Moroz – artwork

References

{{Authority control 2008 albums Wolf Parade albums Sub Pop albums