Though the band’s name lends itself to an image of wolves marching in line, displaying their individuality, their music demonstrates a much greater pack-oriented sensibility. After listening to Expo 86, listeners should be able to trace eleven intertwining, well-formed tracks that members of Wolf Parade left in the soft earth of the music scene late last month.

Given that both Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug successfully contributed to the body of songs comprising their latest cooperative effort, the fluidity with which song components transition and the stylistic continuity between songs represent a conversational quality that many multi-songwriter bands lack. As “In the Direction of the Moon” trots along its nearly six-minute long path, a heavily distorted synthetic bass line undergirds a building ensemble of ambient overdriven guitars. Around the 1:30 mark, Boeckner and fellow guitarist Dante DeCaro begin an unaccompanied exchange of licks behind Krug’s vocals. By 2:10, all band members transform the instrumental interplay into all out teamwork as the chorus returns full force. Track 10, “Yulia,” begins with a dawning swell of Krug’s keyboard, and as the remaining three band members enter, the same undeniable sense of collectively satisfying determination visible among wolves acting en masse emerges. Krug soars over driving rhythms and chugging guitars with the lyrics, “There’s nothing out here/Nothing out here/Nothing out” to end the number, reminding his mates and listeners that one wolf was not intended to live away from the pack for very long.

According to their label Sub Pop’s website, the then young members of Wolf Parade made a pact in 1986 to drop any unsuccessful or undesirable preoccupations in order to form the band of their dreams. Whether or not this account of the band’s formation and subsequent production of three full-length albums and a handful of EPs is true, listeners can certainly appreciate this cumulative result of a few musicians’ loyalty to promises made to a boyhood gang.