The Meat Tower

Whatever you may think of At Mount Zoomer, you will not be able to deny that it sounds like a stone colossus moving through an army of men, effortlessly pounding through their ranks, flaying them where they stand with its cold, even stare.  The architect of this sound is Arlen Thompson, an amiable, bearded man who serves as Wolf Parade’s drummer, producer, recording engineer, and goodwill ambassador.  Thompson has always had a firm hand in the recording of the Wolf Parade material – he engineered both of the early EPs as well as certain of the tracks from Apologies.  When I solicited a track from the band for the Believer 2005 Music issue (a cover of Frog Eyes’ ‘Claxxon’s Lament’) it was Arlen who patiently assembled the various stems sent in by the other band members who were, at the time, each on separate continents.

Shortly after Apologies was released, Arlen decided to assemble a studio of his own to record Wolf Parade and other projects. The convenience of having a fully-functioning studio is, in large part, what makes At Mount Zoomer sound the way it does, from the song structure right down to the aural separation of the individual instruments.  Not only was the band able to record and sift through extensive improvisational sessions, editing together the bits that felt right and re-recording them, they were able to exert total control over the resultant sound.

“It was really important for all of us to preserve as much as possible not only the sounds of the instruments themselves but also the sound of the amps and the silences between the notes,” Dan said in the interview. “Producers tend to mute out a track whenever there are no notes being played, and then you end up with this really dry, tinny sound.  We wanted to make sure that you could hear the sound of the amp just humming in the spaces between the notes.”

Recording the album themselves allowed Arlen to mix the drums first.  ”We recorded the basic tracks,” Dan continued, “and then we left Arlen alone for a long time, and he worked exclusively on the drums until they were perfect.  That’s why the drums are so present on the record.”  Play ‘Soldier’s Grin’ next to any shitty record that’s come out in the last year and you’ll be able to quickly ascertain exactly what Thompson has done to his kit.  There’s a tightness to each component underscored by the background warmth of the room.  The drums manage to sound huge, but more like a tidal wave than a corporate high-rise.