måndag 16 Mar 2009, 4:21
Handsome Furs’ debut Plague Park, with its cavernous guitars and droning synthesizers, was among 2007’s best. With the bar set high, how does the sophomore effort fare then? One of the first things one would notice, is that the minimalism of Plague Park has been traded in for a slightly more complete sound, which even more so shows how great the chemistry between Boeckner and Perry is. The duo still only utilizes one guitar, a drum machine and a synthesizer, but they just seem to make better use of it all. Texturally, this is a much more interesting record, with a much more prominent use of the synthesizer, which now sounds a lot less organic this time around. Fortunately, those guitars are still dripping in Boeckner’s trademark distortion. There’s also quite a lot of Pixies-esque riffage here, which should please fans of Boeckner’s earlier Atlas Strategic project. The real highlight though, is possibly the deceptively simple lyrics about paranoia and desire, which Boeckner wails out with a certain urgency. While this all sounds pretty good, the songs just aren’t quite as strong as those on its predecessor, which also manages to sound significantly more cohesive. Maybe Face Control comes across as slightly too calculated but it fails to capture quite the same level of passion that Plague Park was able to. This album might produce the best song of the year in Evangeline but it doesn’t quite live up to the expectations that come with being a Wolf Parade side project. Fortunately, with those expectations being so high, you’re still left with a pretty good album.
7.5