Wolf Parade Apologies to the Queen Mary
Wolf Parade's Apologies to the Queen Mary bursts with kinetic urgency and plaintive grandeur, a debut that critics say balances raw vigor with surprising emotional heft. Across professional reviews, the consensus celebrates the record's duelling vocalists, percussive urgency and nostalgic new-wave references, and many
The album's strength lies in duelling vocalists, vivid imagery, and turning ordinary moments into unexpectedly moving songs.
The best song is "I'll Believe In Anything" because the reviewer calls it astonishing and equates its scope with Arcade Fire's high-water mark.
Best for listeners looking for comparison to Arcade Fire and soaring anthems, starting with I'll Believe In Anything and Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts.
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See where this record sits inside the full critic-ranked discography.
Jump from this record into the broader critic-consensus lists for 2005.
Full consensus notes
Wolf Parade's Apologies to the Queen Mary bursts with kinetic urgency and plaintive grandeur, a debut that critics say balances raw vigor with surprising emotional heft. Across professional reviews, the consensus celebrates the record's duelling vocalists, percussive urgency and nostalgic new-wave references, and many single out “I'll Believe In Anything”, “Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts” and “Shine a Light” as the best songs on Apologies to the Queen Mary.
Critics consistently praise the album's soaring anthems and eccentric, oft-clamorous production, noting how ordinary frustrations are transmuted into cathartic choruses. The collection earned an 81.59/100 consensus score across 17 professional reviews, with commentators highlighting standouts such as “I'll Believe In Anything” for its thrilling surge, “Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts” for ruthless intensity, and “Shine a Light” for its driving force. Reviewers draw comparisons to Arcade Fire's emotional scope while underscoring Wolf Parade's own blend of cynicism and intensity.
While praise is abundant for the album's anthemic moments and vivid urban imagery, some critics temper enthusiasm by pointing to moments of eccentric clutter amid the emotional noise. Overall the critical consensus suggests Apologies to the Queen Mary is a striking, often essential debut whose standout tracks and urgent performances make it well worth hearing — a record that stakes Wolf Parade as a band capable of crafting both raucous immediacy and memorable hooks.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
I'll Believe In Anything
3 mentions
"Take Krug’s “I’ll Believe in Anything” or Boeckner’s “This Hearts on Fire” for example."— PopMatters
Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts
3 mentions
"Listen to “Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts” and you’ll hear the death knells of yesterday’s cynical detachment."— PopMatters
Shine a Light
2 mentions
"Boeckner's best are the anthemic "Shine a Light"— Pitchfork
Listen to “Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts” and you’ll hear the death knells of yesterday’s cynical detachment.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
You Are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son
Modern World
Grounds for Divorce
We Built Another World
Fancy Claps
Same Ghost Every Night
Shine a Light
Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts
I'll Believe In Anything
It's a Curse
Dinner Bells
This Heart's On Fire
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 17 critics who reviewed this album
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Critic's Take
In this review Jim Carroll finds that Wolf Parade's Apologies to the Queen Mary contains some of the best songs on the record, notably “I'll Believe In Anything” and “Shine a Light”. He writes in an exuberant, comparative tone that places the album alongside Arcade Fire's Funeral, arguing that the thrilling surge of “I'll Believe In Anything” and the driving force of “Shine a Light” make them the best tracks on Apologies to the Queen Mary. The praise is vivid and immediate, celebrating the band's ability to sustain a splendid, spirited buzz across these standout songs. The narrative centers on big music moments, breathless energy and emotionally resonant climaxes that mark the album's finest tracks.
Key Points
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The best song is "I'll Believe In Anything" because the reviewer calls it astonishing and equates its scope with Arcade Fire's high-water mark.
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The album's core strengths are its soaring, dramatic anthems and sustained energetic, spirited buzz.
Themes
Critic's Take
Wolf Parade's Apologies to the Queen Mary finds its best songs in the album's late flourish and Boeckner anthems, especially “Grounds for Divorce” and “I'll Believe In Anything”. Read closely and the best tracks on Apologies to the Queen Mary reveal themselves as emotional, anthemic, and oddly intimate, songs that turn everyday details into unexpectedly moving moments.
Key Points
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The best song is emotionally charged “I'll Believe In Anything”, singled out as one of the reviewer's favorites for its charm and extended blissful outro.
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The album's strength lies in duelling vocalists, vivid imagery, and turning ordinary moments into unexpectedly moving songs.
Themes
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Critic's Take
Wolf Parade sound like a band who have charged straight into the fray on Apologies to the Queen Mary, and the best songs - notably “Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts” and “I’ll Believe In Anything” - bear that out with ruthless intensity. Liam Colle’s voice here celebrates the album’s vigor and its knack for turning everyday frustration into something anthemic, so queries about the best songs on Apologies to the Queen Mary land on those two tracks first. The record’s unrefined, relentless playing and dynamic songwriting make those standouts stick in your head and under your skin. This is debut heat that feels like it could last, songs that matter right now rather than later.
Key Points
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“Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts” best encapsulates the album’s conversion of cynicism into urgent, anthemic feeling.
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The album’s core strength is relentless, unrefined playing married to dynamic, accessible songwriting and fierce vocal delivery.
Themes
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Critic's Take
Wolf Parade arrive on Apologies to the Queen Mary with a clamorous, percussive urgency that makes the best tracks irresistible: “You Are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son” kicks off with brilliant eccentricity and an ominous, muscular lurch, while “Same Ghost Every Night” gilds a majestic trundle with throat-shredding, owlish backing vocals. The reviewer's voice spends most of its admiration on those songs, praising the band's rabid mix of mighty quirk and emotional heft. If you search for the best songs on Apologies to the Queen Mary, these tracks repeatedly surface as highlights, alongside the goofily hooting charm of “Grounds for Divorce”.
Key Points
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The best song is the opening “You Are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son” for its brilliant eccentricity and Dan Boeckner's alien yelp.
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The album's core strengths are its percussive urgency, emotional heft, and a rabid mix of quirk and grandeur.
Themes
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