Handsome Furs “Face Control” Review

Dan Boeckner, who has crafted some of my favorite songs of the last few years with both Handsome Furs and Wolf Parade, may have outdone himself with his latest release. Face Control, the sophomore album from Handsome Furs, his collaboration with his wife Alexei, is the strongest collection of songs he has created and is one of the best CDs that has come out this year. Boeckner, who writes the slightly more straight forward (compared to Spencer Krug) and existential songs for Wolf Parade, started performing under the Handsome Furs moniker a little over two years ago. The songs on their debut album, Plauge Park, consisted of the usual stinging guitars and impassioned yelp by Boeckner in addition to the drum machines and keyboards added by his wife. It was a dark and claustrophobic album, all dark corners and paranoid thoughts, which makes the more expansive Face Control seem even more striking. While their were some great songs on the album, it still didn’t prepare me for the amazing collection of tracks on Face Control.

The album gets off to a fast start with “Legal Tender,” which finds an upbeat drum rhythm mixing with some soaring synths and some buzzing guitars. After the dark and subdued Plague Park, “Legal Tender” leaves no doubt about where this album is heading. Next up is “Evangeline,” which features some straightforward beats mixing with some stabbing guitar lines and some especially emphatic singing from Boeckner. Any doubts still lingering about whether the Furs are more confident in their strengths should be completely wiped away at the 2:20 mark of “Evangeline,” when the keys, drums, guitars and vocals all combine for a moment of pure bliss that would have seemed wholly out of place on Plague Park. If “Evangeline” threw off old Handsome Furs fans, “Talking Hotel Arbat Blues” will leaves brain particles from blown minds splattered all over stereos. The drum beat and synth lines, mixed with snare pops between beats, are downright frantic and when mixed with the melody, which strangely reminded me of “I Want Candy,” are unlike anything you would expect from the band. While the music may tread new ground, the lyrics are classic Boeckner. With lines like “I don’t know what I’ve been told, every little thing’s been bought and sold,” there is little doubt that Buckner’s dour outlook is still firmly in place. Next up is “(Passport Kontrol),” one of the two instrumental tracks on the album, along with “It’s Not Me, It’s You”. These tracks are good, but they miss the energy that is provided by Boeckners great singing. After “(Passport Kontrol),” Boeckner interjects his singing back into the songs, and delivers two of the very best songs on the album. First up is the plaintive and earnest “All We Want, Baby, Is Everything,” which melds a bouncing beat with some sounding guitars and keyboards to make for a great musical accompaniment to Boeckner singing about desires to always want more than they can have. Next up is the first single released, and best song, on the album, a scorching track titled “I’m Confused.” The song has wailing guitar work and impassioned singing from Boeckner and may be the best song he has ever written.

You wouldn’t blame the band if there was a letdown after the two amazing songs that anchor the middle of the album, but the next few songs show how strong and consistent the album really is. “(White City)” has some bubbling electronics that, while losing out on the jagged edge of Boeckner’s guitar work, still have the manic energy that makes the album so great. “Nyet Spasiba” is a fuzzy gem of a song that melds the off kilter drum machine beats with some bleary synths that give way to buzz-saw guitar from Boeckner. “Officer of Hearts” starts out with a simple drum track and a pulsing staccato based keyboard line that eventually gives way to Boeckner’s mellow vocals. It is a song that follows more closely with the more tightly wound tracks of Plague Park and maintains its simmering energy over the course of its nearly six minute length. The song breaks it down near the end, with Boeckner saying “Our love is… and found.” After the slow burning soul of “Officer of Hearts,” the band goes back to the instrumental well one more time for the awesomely titled “(It’s Not Me, It’s You).” When the band was in Minneapolis last fall, they previewed many songs, including the one that ended up becoming the second to last song on the album, “Thy Will be Done.” Boeckner prefaced the song by saying it was about cocaine, a fact he justified by saying he tries to write about things he knows a lot about. The song is not the best on the album but has some jumpy guitars and a straightforward beat that has a great chorus of Boeckner singing the title of the song over and over. At 12 songs and 38 minutes Face Control comes to a close with “Radio Kaliningrad.” Like “Thy Will Be Done,” it doesn’t have the dizzying heights of some of the earlier tracks on the album, but it is still a really strong track. The drum beat and synth lines push the music forward and the track sounds like it could be a B-Side to one of the great Wolf Parade albums.

Already being a huge fan of Dan Boeckner’s work in Atlas Strategic, Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs, I had high expectations for this record. Little did I know they would be blown away with such a concise and rewarding album. The music is definitely pop oriented, but the band puts enough frays around the edges to make Face Control an album that reinforces its value after multiple spins and goes to prove the songwriting genius of Boeckner. After a debut album that showed some great promise, it seems like Dan and Alexei are hitting their stride and really fulfilling on their promise that was shown both with Plague Park and in their live show. While adding to an already crowded field of great albums that have come out in 2009, Face Control shows the Handsome Furs have become much more than a side project and can hold their own as one of the best bands around right now.

Handsome Furs “Radio Kaliningrad” [MP3]
Handsome Furs “I’m Confused” [MP3]
Handsome Furs “Cannot Get, Started” [MP3]
Handsome Furs “What We Had” [MP3]