Michael D. Ayers, N.Y.
With material inspired by touring in Russia and Eastern Europe,
Handsome Furs will unveil their sophomore album, "Face Control,"
March 10 via Sub Pop. The band features Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner
and his partner Alexei Perry.
"We've weirdly developed into a rock band since the last record,"
Boeckner tells Billboard.com. "I think [our loudness] surprised a
lot of people, especially when we started to tour 'Plague Park.'
And I think we kind of ran with that when we were writing the new
material. We were also spending a lot of time on tour in Eastern
Europe, and I think we really got influenced by the club music
there, and, punk bands."
Although the drum programming harks back to "Plague Park," new
songs like "I'm Confused" and "Nyet Spasiba" display Boeckner's
guitar much more prominently. "Officer Of Hearts" has more of
a synth-pop feel to it, and "(Passport Kontrol)" as well as closer
"Radio Kaliningrad" reflect the dark yet upbeat club feel Boeckner
describes.
"A lot of it has ex-Eastern bloc politics -- at least that's the
metaphor that a lot of songs are operating under," he says.
Handsome Furs will tour in 2009, beginning with Europe and touching
down in North America in March.
Here is the track list for "Face Control":
"Legal Tender"
"Evangeline"
"Talking Hotel Arbat Blues"
"(Passport Kontrol)"
"I'm Confused"
"(White City)"
"Nyet Spasiba"
"Office Of Hearts"
"(It's Not Me, It's You)"
"Thy Will Be Done"
"Radio Kaliningrad"