Face Control

iTunes Review

Handsome Furs is Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade) and his wife Alexei Perry, who color way outside the lines drawn by other current, Canadian indie bands, including Boeckner’s own. Boeckner is a hugely talented songwriter, and with the Furs he explores a wholly different range of outsider rock, brimming with conviction and confidence. His voice is full and expressive, a bucketful of gravitas deep in his chest. Shadows of rockabilly and American roots music color tracks like “Evangeline” and “All We Want, Baby, Is Everything,” although the buzz and hum of Perry’s synths streamline the tracks into icy cool numbers instead of rumbling rave-ups. “I’m Confused” and “Radio Kaliningrad” are fueled by unabated new-wave power-pop, but tracks like “Legal Tender” and “Thy Will Be Done” bring the Furs into the contemporary electro-pop realm. “I’m Confused” sounds like an ‘80s college radio hit run through a 21st-century filter with the “Minimalist Howl” button cranked up, while “Passport Kontrol” flirts with dub undertones. The Furs are not easy to categorize, certainly. And that’s only one of their many strengths.