Thin Mind

No one has figured out a way to write music about millennium-era technology without sounding like an old man yelling at a cloud. Much like how CGI animation’s major flaw is its immediate obsolescence, the effects of social media and the uses to which we put smartphones have evolved along with the technology. Wolf Parade understands that the constant in this evolution is human curiosity being rewarded (or cursed) with a weakened emotional language. This is the world that occupies the lyrics of Thin Mind, an album that uses this focused viewpoint to boost its wonderfully catchy indie rock into greater heights. “Out of Control” portrays lovers coming to terms with an apocalyptic future over a buzzy waltz, “Forest Green” chugs through descriptions of a dystopian apartment complex with a futuristic post-punk energy, and “Under Glass” acts as the album’s overall thesis, trading in old hat technophobia for a rousing ode to emotional emptiness; “nobody knows who they are anymore.”