The duo of Handsome Furs, comprising Montreal residents Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade) and his wife Alexei Perry, began as an idea in the winter of 2005. Dark and minimal while noisy and earnest, the point was to be as sparse and repetitive as possible with the help of little more than vocals, guitars, and a new drum machine.
The band’s name comes from the title of a short story that Alexei was writing at the time of band’s conception.
Plague Park was released on May 22, 2007. Songs of earthbound captains, eggs made of gold and iron, and sleepless bodies have been born. Boeckner’s disenchanted vocals thinly resonate while cloaked in a frenzied undertone of fear and uncertainty, all punctuated by bare drum machine beats. Through the course of each track, a deep-seated sense of longing is leveled out by staunch realism as a restless disdain for both urban life and smaller towns collide. Handsome Furs toured Europe before having recorded any songs, and has since opened for the likes of Paavoharju, Islaja, David Cross and Modest Mouse before having released a proper record.
Recorded at Wolf Parade’s studio, Mount Zoomer, in the heart of December, Plague Park is their debut. It is a record of melancholic tendency and heartfelt desire; a stripped down symphony relegated between city and country, and made for ears of either side.
