Spencer Krug has to be the hardest working man in the Canadian music scene. And that’s saying something. Not only content in being part of the fantastic Wolf Parade, he’s been a hired gun for Swan Lake, Frog Eyes and Fifths of Seven. Sunset Rubdown was originally a solo project, a side-event from Wolf Parade. However, it’s now swelled to become something more tangible with its own identity, drive and ambition.

Of course, anything involving Krug will feature his unique vocal prowess, his quivering soprano that makes Alec Ounsworth sound positively normal. There’s also the fact that Sunset Rubdown is a more pop-orientated outing. The random experimentation and jarring themes of Wolf Parade are toned down; Random Spirit Lover is a fresh and more open spin on indie-pop. It’s undeniably quirky, but in the same way that Menomena and Caribou are as opposed to being deliberately obtuse.

The album seems to be dominated by child-like themes, rhythms and rhymes. The jangling guitars of “Up On Your Leopard, Upon The End of Your Feral Days” strikes images of children holding hands and dancing in circles like at some kind of pre-teen birthday party. The riffs pierce through this, chiming with random percussion and augment the general feeling of a great big party. “The Taming of the Hands That Came Back To Life” echoes this later in the album with it’s similar chants and brilliantly grating guitar solo.

The lyrics are delightfully off-kilter throughout, never quite making much sense, almost a stream of conscious, but enjoyable and memorable all the same; “The mortician mistook you for a whore” and “The ringing sound of the predatory skies” all embed themselves in your head whilst not quite revealing their true nature.

The album is so full of music and ideas that its execution becomes incredibly dense. There’s layer upon layer of instrumentation, vocals and samples that make it a daunting listen at first. It’s only after repeat plays that have I’ve finally found a route into this twisted but brilliant alternate universe. “Colt Stands Up, Grows Horns” is a perfect example. It’s almost prog-rock in its approach, the dense and sinister guitar riffs about half way through counteracts the duelling vocals. Keyboards percolate through the dense backdrop that sounds like it could come from Michael Mann’s original Manhunter or one of James Carpenters early movies.

This then segues into the epic centrepiece, “Stallion”. A broken ballad of sorts, it’s continuing piano the underlying theme off which the rest of the song hangs. The convulsing guitars, the battering drums and the distorted screams all revolve around that singular musical thread. It’s a thrilling and brilliant masterpiece that sums up all that’s weird and wonderful about this record. If anything, from here on in the record picks up momentum. The fantastic “Trumpet, Trumpet, Toot! Toot!” writhes around like a snake on heat, the guitars and keyboards duelling with each other to the death. “Setting Vs. Rising” is the song The Arcade Fire should have made if they really wanted to break from the the shackles of mainstram indie.

This might not be a record of lightness and happiness throughout. There’s a carefully drawn blanket of darkness just shrouding everything. But, to counteract this, there are still elements of joyous abandon in which you can immerse yourself and forget everything else.
90%

Links
Sunset Rubdown [official site] [buy it]