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Handsome Furs - Face Control
| Drownedinsound |
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It’s a well-known curio of pop history that the synth-led sound of Springsteen’s wilderness years was directly indebted to the skeletal drum machines of electro-duo Suicide. Face Control, the new record by Handsome Furs (Alexei Perry and Dan-from-Wolf-Parade), sounds like Born in the USA, if the Boss had allowed a little more evil in the mix, and tried replicating Alan Vega’s demented yelps. Yeah, it’s THAT good... What comes across immediately, is Dan Boeckner’s urgency. After all, it’s been less than a year since Wolf Parade’s magnificent second record, and only a little over a year since the Handsome Furs’ own debut. The drum-machines and handclaps, here, are what you’d expect on home demos, there only ever seems to be one guitar growling behind the keyboards, and the lyrics and three-chord melodies are patched together with clichés and hand-me-downs from a dozen well-loved pop-songs. Thing is, it’s the opposite of lazy; it becomes clear you just don’t need that much going on, if you’re a great tunesmith. The old line about great vocalists is that they can sing the phonebook; in Dan’s case, he’d howl like this if he were ordering pizza....full text |
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| Consequenceofsound |
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The weekends of married life can be summed up by Will Ferrell’s line in his 2003 college classic, Old School. In it Ferrell digresses: “We have a big day planned actually, a nice Little Saturday. We’re going to go to Home Depot, buy some wall paper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that…” But what if you are Dan Boeckner of Montreal’s own Wolf Parade? Apparently you would squeeze in some studio time between picking out flooring and wallpaper. That is exactly what he did back in 2007 with his wife Alexei Perry for a new project, the Handsome Furs. Now in 2009 they are back for round two with their sophomore effort, Face Control. After touring extensively around Europe and making more than a few stops in Russia, inspiration struck to turn what would have been an EP into a new full length. Face Control is the obvious next step from where 2007’s Plague Park left off. It further separates itself from Boeckner’s full time outfit, leaving behind his trademark guitar sound for something new and more challenging. The live drums have also been kicked to the curb for sample beats to fill the void. The combination is even more of a new wave throw back, caught somewhere between New Order and The Clash. This is the most evident on the Face Control track, “I’m Confused”, with its simple keys and lavishly loud guitar parts. Even the solo fits the bill, being simple yet poignant. The track could easily be the most exciting thing heard from the mind of Boeckner, and that is exactly how the rest of the record plays out. The guitars are heavier, louder, more distorted, and as a result, Boeckner has to step it up with his vocals, pushing them to match the new direction. “Evangeline” is the perfect example of this, and fleshes out to be one of the best on the album. The record is not just a new direction for the band rather one for Boeckner, personally giving him a chance to reach in all directions musically. “Talking Hotel Arbat Blues” is the first time we hear the duo bridge into the world of old school rock hitting hard with beats and break downs that have you thinking Joan Jett for a split second. Long drawn out guitar notes and sonic distortion take over, keeping the track stripped down and focused on the lyrics which dabble in social commentary with the tag line, “I don’t know but I’ve been told, every little things been bought and sold.”...full text |
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| Ventvox |
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Handsome Furs are a spooked band, weary of the casual interlacing of technology into our daily lives. Throughout the album, singer and guitarist Dan Boeckner and wife Alexei Perry complement this notion with jagged guitars meshed next to cold electronics. Boeckner’s vocals provide another juxtaposition to the icy tones as if he were rescued from some juke-joint hellhole before time warping to the 21st century. ‘Face Control’ is an album that successfully fuses the blues, rockabilly, bar boogie rock and some psychedelic tones to prehistoric synths. On ‘Face Control’ Handsome Furs come across like a half-breed of Hank Williams Sr. and Kraftwerk. Opener “Legal Tender” kicks ‘Face Control’ off with a glitchy twitch of a beat before segueing into a distorted carnival ride of a song. “Evangeline” might be a contender for best skronk blues of the year, Tom Waits would be proud. With its stop-start rhythms and guitar squall, “I’m Confused” wouldn’t be out of a place on a certain early 80’s Nicholas Cage film....full text |
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