Send "Handsome Furs " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Up to this point, it's been somewhat difficult to listen to the broke-down electro-pop of Handsome Furs without imagining what Dan Boeckner's more established band, Wolf Parade, might do to elaborate on it. Though the projects sound very different, his songs for both bands rely heavily on his bleary-eyed lyricism and jagged guitar chug. But as Boeckner could tell you, there's an easy way to get people to stop comparing your side project to your main gig: just break up the latter.But it's not just Wolf Parade's recently announced "indefinite hiatus" that casts Sound Kaptial as Handsome Furs' most passionate, committed album to date. Rather, by taking the emphasis off of Boeckner's guitars and giving greater shine to wife Alexei Perry's neon-bright keyboard lines and woofer-busting beats, Handsome Furs present themselves as a genuine, ready-for-the-floor synth-pop band rather than a frazzled rock act that happens to use synthesizers. With new wave confections like "Memories of the Future" and "What About Us", Sound Kapital effectively conjures an alternate 1980s where Bruce Springsteen didn't just tinker around with synths and drum machines on occasion, but actually tried to make a full-on Depeche Mode record. However, Sound Kapital isn't so much an 80s throwback in sound as in its spirit of sincerity. A handful of songs on the record were inspired by the Furs' 2010 visit to Burma, where they performed alongside bands who were quite literally underground, forced to perform out of sight of the oppressive local authorities, with minimal access to electricity, let alone recording technology. Given that Boeckner's always been drawn to the struggle of the underdog, the experience of being around people who routinely risked incarceration just to play their music naturally had a profound effect on his songwriting; the opening song is built around a click-tracked chant-- "When I get back home/ I won't be the same no more"-- that effectively serves as a promise to put aside petty, material-world concerns....full text |
| Consequenceofsound |
| Even though Canadian bands Wolf Parade and the Handsome Furs share Dan Boeckner’s instantly recognizable vocals, the latter have gone to great lengths to make a name for themselves. With Plague Park (2007) and Face Control (2008), Boeckner and his wife, keyboardist Alexei Perry, grew into more than just a side project to Wolf Parade. Throughout their history as a band, however, you could always hear the harder, grungy synthesizers yearning to break free from the New Wave-y, almost Strokesian guitar lines. Their latest release, Sound Kapital, fuses the couple’s impressive but disparate talents by eliminating the guitar altogether. Boeckner wanted to “challenge” himself by playing keyboards, and it’s safe to say he rises to the test. Sound Kapital initially sounds like a departure from the band’s earlier efforts, but after repeated listens it’s actually a logical progression. The album hews closely to ‘80s electronic and industrial music of Eastern Europe, which is the primary influence for the new record. This gives them a solid musical platform on which to explore their socialist advocacy and nostalgic denial....full text |
| Altmusic |
| Handsome Furs have been on a musical journey Eastwards: a veritable travelogue heading through the Eastern Bloc over cold-war synths and cold-hearted drum-machines. Their debut LP, 2007's Plague Park, was born in Finland and Estonia. 2009's Face Control rolled through Poland into Russia. And now Sound Kapital comes along: inspired by Eastern European synth music, their friends in China, and touring through South-East Asia. Handsome Furs —Wolf Parade dude Dan Boeckner and wife Alexei Perry— have gone beyond seasoned travelers or serial touring-act, to the point where all this journeying has become their metier. "Cheap Music" stands as the defining track on this LP —the national anthem of the Sound Kapital— but it could just as easily be the duo's modus operandi. "Cheap Music," one of Boeckner's most anthemic jams is dedicated to "a thousand lonely kids making noise in a basement," be they in Bucharest, Belgrade, Bangkok, or Beijing. It's a rallying cry for the disenfranchised kids of the East; and Sound Kapital is essentially authored in honor of them. "Damage" boils down "Cheap Music"'s sloganeering to even simpler sentiments, this another tribute to escape via basement shows "fit to blow," just one that has a one-word hook repeated endlessly. The "Damage" is to Western alienation, to local systems of oppression, and, if you stand to close to the speakers, to your eardrums....full text |
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