Handsome Furs Reveal New Album Will Boast 'Sweaty Punk Dance Party Vibe'

Posted on Dec 13th 2010 2:30PM by Ciaran Thompson
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Sub Pop

It's been almost two years since Handsome Furs released their sophomore LP, 'Face Control,' and since then fans have had to wait while Montreal-based husband-and-wife duo Alexi Perry and Dan Boeckner attended to the needs of their various other musiprojects. However, admirers of the synth-punk band's tunes may not have to wait much longer.

Along with revealing to Spinner that his band Wolf Parade would be going on an indefinite hiatus, Boeckner let loose some details about recording the new Furs album this January, and working with fellow Wolf Parader Arlen Thompson who will be handling the production side.

"We've got two-thirds of the record written, and then we'll put it together," Boeckner told Spinner. "Arlen's got some pretty good ideas for production, and we're gonna try out stuff we haven't tried before."

Boeckner also revealed that recording engineer Howard Bilerman -- who worked on Wolf Parade's latest album, 'Expo 86' -- will be involved, and it will be recorded at Mount Zoomer sound studio in Montreal.

Comparing the new material to 2009's 'Face Control' -- which Spinner selected as our favourite Canadian album of 2009 -- Boeckner said, "It's different; I really like it. We've written a lot of songs and I've really stepped back from playing guitar all over it, and basically there's some new equipment that we're using -- it's very like, old-school electronic, early New Order, early industrial music.

Watch Handsome Furs Perform 'Talking Hotel Arbat Blues' off 'Face Control'

"We kind of realized after we made that 'Face Control' record that one of the strengths of the band that really separated it from Wolf Parade -- and separated the two audiences -- was there was more of a dance party vibe than sort of a cerebral rock vibe to the crowd [at] the shows," he continued. "It was really cool to be able to have those things separate so I could enjoy them separately -- I think we're kind of going more in the sweaty, punk dance party vibe."

Handsome Furs is currently touring eastern Europe, and so far have one North American date in Chicago already booked for 2011, they'll play at Lincoln Hall January 15. According to Boeckner, the band's new album will be out "late spring/ early summer" if everything goes as planned.