Many Critics feel that “Face Control,” the most recent release from the Wolf Parade offshoot band Handsome Furs, is a significant step forward for the band, but I’m not so sure. There is no doubt that “Face Control” finds the Canadian duo (guitarist/singer Dan Boeckner and his wife, keyboardist Alexei Perry) exploring new territory, but unfortunately for the Handsome Furs, new scenery does not always translate into success.
Where their previous work “Plague Park” (2007) was an exercise in minimalism, “Face Control” is an exploration in sound, finding the duo pushing its comfort zone in what I can only speculate is an attempt to find its sound. This drastic change in sound in many ways mirrors the change in sound witnessed in the latest Wolf Parade album “At Mount Zoomer.”
In both instances the groups traded in their lo-fi experimental approaches for a ’70s prog-rock-inspired inflection, which boasts a much cleaner and more organized veneer; and while this gamble paid off brilliantly for Wolf Parade, the same cannot be said for the Handsome Furs.
“Face Control” on the whole seems awkward, the song order feels jumbled and the album’s flow is untidy, which often results in a muddled and unpleasant experience for the listener.
Unfortunately, the chief pitfall of the Furs’ latest album lies elsewhere: A lack of originality.
The weakest part of “Face Control” is undoubtedly the great extent to which the album is contingent upon the works of others. In fact, throughout the album the overuse of musical influences becomes so grossly commonplace that the Furs find themselves bouncing from influence to influence like a middle-schooler sampling cultural identities. Needless to say, the familiar nature of the album is not an illusion, and this initially enjoyable property of the album eventually produces annoyance and frustration.
The borrowing of other artist’s sounds reaches its pinnacle in the third track, “Talking Hotel Arbat Blues,” which sounds like something from either Bruce Springsteen or The Clash, that is, until one realizes that the track is so nearly an identical rip-off of Joan Jett’s hit “Bad Reputation” that it’s laughable.
Regrettably, by the end of the album it becomes painfully obvious that there is almost nothing new for the listener to gain from “Face Control” that hasn’t been done before.
Despite its blatant shortcomings, “Face Control” is still able to produce some rather enjoyable moments. This album, just as the Handsome Furs’ first, is an entertaining and impressive piece of poetry.
Don Boeckner and wife Alexei Perry, it should be noted, are writers/poets first and musicians second, a fact that allows the two to lean on lyrical genius in instances in which musical content is not up to par.
This is exactly what the couple does here, and because of this very gift, “Face Control” is in some places both satisfying and absorbing. This attractive feature of the album, along with the very strong “All We Want, Baby, Is Everything,” alone make the album worth purchasing.
“Face Control” is not great by any measure, but what the Handsome Furs have done with their latest work is create an enjoyable pop/rock album that will tickle the interest of indie-cult tag-alongs, and warrant, at the very least, a few spins in your car’s CD player. Perhaps, with their latest work, the Furs have largely rehashed what has been popular in music over the last 40 years; and yes, perhaps the album will be easily forgotten in only a short while, but somehow, surprisingly, the end result is in many ways still entertaining.
Final Rating: 7.0
