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AAA Music | 29 March 2024

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Introducing Handsome Fur

| On 13, Oct 2011


Two lovers not singing love songs.

Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry are in a band called Handsome Furs. That’s sort of cool. They’re also married. Marriage isn’t cool, or uncool—it’s neutral, like eating a sandwich. But this power couple managed to get their band out on the road, travelling to countries most people can’t find on a map and releasing three records along the way. That is extremely cool, especially for us semi-employed dirtbags that can’t get a date.

When they’re not touring in places like Philippines, Burma, and China, Handsome Furs is based in Montreal, a city split down the middle – half English speaking / half French . It’s also the arts hub of Canada, home to Arcade Fire, Chromeo and Boeckner’s first band Wolf Parade. Yeah, you’ve heard of them.

In May 2011 Wolf Parade announced that it was going on indefinite hiatus, and Handsome Furs became more than a side project. With Boeckner’s newfound freedom, he and Perry were able to put more energy into the band, and you can hear that energy on their new album Sound Kapital. Like Wolf Parade’s discography, the record was released through Sub Pop Records.

The new album is more dance floor friendly than previous releases, possibly because this time Boeckner wrote the songs on a keyboard synthesizer and not a guitar. Who knows. Maybe they were inspired by gigs in small sweaty clubs across Asia and Eastern Europe. What’s certain is that their guitar, synth, drum machine, and vocal attack is always fun, even if the lyrics center on boring, dead horse topics like post-Soviet Europe and Pan-Asian dictatorships. JOKES!