I saw the Arcade Fire at Massey Hall during their Neon Bible tour a couple of years ago. Much to my dismay, I just missed Handsome Furs’ opening set. Several months later, I missed another chance to see them in a far more intimate setting. I feel as if I’m doomed to never see these people live. Yet another in a slew of Wolf Parade off-shoots and side-projects, Handsome Furs is made up of Dan Boeckner and his wife Alexei Perry. Their follow-up to the outstanding Plague Park is due this March, and first impressions indicate that Face Control is another solid album. The synthesizer and drum machine based rock of their debut remains, but I feel like this record is slightly more upbeat than the previous one. Let’s just see if I can catch them on the tour for this album.
Handsome Furs – Radio Kaliningrad
Since I did open with an Arcade Fire quip, I suppose it’s only fitting to mention what they’ve been up to. They recently released a concert film called Miroir Noir documenting the Neon Bible tour. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve heard good things. In promotion for the film, on Boxing Day the band released a free download of Burning Bridges, an instrumental version of the unreleased song Burning Bridges, Breaking Hearts. I miss the vocals, but it serves as some decent background music. It has since been taken down, but if you missed it, you can obtain it here. Since I’m in the sharing mood, I’ll throw in yet another unreleased tune.
Arcade Fire – Burning Bridges (ZSHARE)
Arcade Fire – Burning Bridges, Breaking Hearts
Arcade Fire – Cars and Telephones
Another previously unreleased track known as “Lenin” is set to be on the charity compilation Dark Was The Night. Hopefully this signifies that the band is gearing up for a busy 2009.
6 Comments
I’m really excited for the new Handsome Furs album but I haven’t been able to get my hands on it yet. I got to see them once at the Grad Club in Kingston with only about twenty people around (3 or which were ca va cool writers). Handsome furs are the coolest.
— Daniel, January 10, 2009So weird! I was gonna put Cars and Telephones in my next post but you beat me to it! It’s one of my favorite Arcade Fire songs. The lyrics and harmonies make my heart ache, similar to the pain I feel when I listen to Pinkerton.
And if I had any notion
of how I’m gonna drive my car
across the Atlantic Ocean
I’d be fucking set.
Miroir Noir is fantastic. It was all shot by Vincent Moon – the guy who does a lot of work for la blogoteque – and he brings an equally unique, voyeuristic, handy-cam ish take to this documentary. I went in to it expecting a concert dvd. what i got was something which was at once a great insight into the band (particularly Win and Regine) and their quirkiness, and equal parts concert catharsis and recording composure.
i highly recommend it.
— Sal, January 11, 2009hearts la blogoteque.
— Dona, January 11, 2009Definitely anxious for the Handsome Furs release as well. Somehow, I find Boeckner more at ease in this setting rather than Wolf Parade (at least live).
As a side note, does anyone find Alexei’s coat in that picture a little ironic?
— Sabrina, January 11, 2009I can’t stop listening to this album. One of the first classics of 2009.
— Daniel, January 13, 2009
