Handsome Furs: Face Control

By: Brian Gearing

Handsome Furs are a duo – husband Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade and wife Alexei Perry – so physics would dictate that they create music in recorded bits and discovered pieces, making Face Control (released March 10 on Sub Pop), technically, an electronic record. Beneath all the rusty razor hooks and sweet radio beats, a soft, digital voice whispers, but Boeckner’s distinctive snarl and tweaked and twisted rock and roll bury it beneath decades of sound. The electroclap of “Legal Tender” fills the dance-punk party floor, while Boeckner’s Montreal indie meets blitzkrieg bop surfaces on “Talking Hotel Arbat Blues,” and by the time he channels Springsteen’s restless youth through modern rock radiowaves on “All We Want Baby Is Everything” it’s hard to believe that this is just a happy couple toying with ones and zeroes in their spare bedroom. If there’s any robotic chill on Face Control it just rolls off the record’s rock hard coolness in beads of blood and sweat.

JamBase | Hirsute
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