The list of singer-songwriter-as-eccentric just got longer with the addition of Montreal’s Sunset Rubdown. The brain child of one-time Frog Eye/current Wolf Parader Spencer Krug, Sunset Rubdown is a more lo-fi, more fragile project than what he as otherwise been used to. Whereas his participation with Frog Eyes came across as music for circus freaks, and his work with Wolf Parade was an attempt to make this circus more ‘indie friendly,’ here Krug focuses more on writing an opus for the insane. The results are both intriguing and exciting.

I’ll Believe in Anything You’ll Believe in Anything
Coming from Sunset Rubdowns first album Snake’s Got a Leg “I’ll Believe in Anything You’ll Believe in Anything” is merely a skeleton of the song that appears on Wolf Parade’s album. That said, it’s still an interesting listen. It begins with a pounding bass line coupled with a constant treble part that is never allowed to resolve itself. All of this is played with Krug’s squawking vocal on top. Stripped of the drums and guitar that Wolf Parade eventually would add, here the song sounds like the concoction of some Northern European Count, who has nothing but his four-track to keep him company.

Three Colours
With the addition of Jordan Robson Cramer, Mike Doerksen and former Pony Up! member Camilla Wynn Ingr, “Three Colours” automatically feels more full than what appears on Snake’s Got a Leg. It actually starts with something resembling recognizable harmonies as well as a singable melody. Yet it still retains the feeling of madness that Krug has perfected with his previous work (listen for the line: “I can’t believe that I belong to nowhere” over top of a unsettling guitar part).

A Day in the Graveyard II
This is the song that ultimately sold me on Sunset Rubdown as a singular entity, rather than some one-off side project. It begins with synth effects that work as a call to arms for the undead, followed by a distressing keyboard part that is interrupted by shots of noise. The dialectic between the straightforward keyboard line and the noise ultimate begins to break the song apart piece by piece. And just as it seems that the song is on the verge of complete collapse? Enter the acoustic guitar that brings everything together. A love song for the undead, “A Day in the Graveyard II” reminds you that even zombies need a little TLC.

So how does Sunset Rubdown fit in within the larger narrative of Spencer Krug’s work? I believe it to be a fundamental aspect of all that he has accomplished thus far. At a time when Wolf Parade is struggling with its rise to indie stardom, here we have one of its members attempting to tear all that apart in a sea of madness and cacophony. Nothing could be more satisfying.

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