After this album has been out for about a week (though leaked much earlier) and I've given it a good couple of listens, it seems more and more apparent that my feelings towards it are simply stuck at ambivalent.
Handsome Furs' Face Control has a very basic and clever appeal to it from track to track and the listener should be able to appreciate how simple it all is. The husband and wife duo from Montreal offer something above your basic drum machine, guitar, synth combination, but while the sound is certainly enjoyable, the band draws on already accepted terms for pursuing a rock edge in the indie-alt genre.
At first, tracks like "Talking Hotel Arbat Blues" seem generic and that the band may be heading down the well-trodden path. They have a standard and repetitive sound that really doesn't push or expand on anything that came before it. "Talking Hotel" specifically embodies a sort of Ramones-era feel with simple chord progressions, but then takes a twist to blend this original sound with whining guitar melody and a more serious tone. The track takes inspiration from songs we already know and probably like and drops it gently behind the lyrics.
I'd also like to point out that even though there are many differences between these frontmen, Handsome Furs' Dan Boeckner can't help but come across as an imitation of TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe. Boeckner's delivery, style and pacing sound so similar to TVOTR's vocals that I almost believed that some of the latter's tracks were accidentally placed into my Face Control playlist on iTunes. Pronunciation in tracks like "Legal Tender" - especially for the title lyrics - is characterized by stretching syllables, stresses and annunciation that mimic Adebimpe's style perfectly.
Though the weaknesses stand out far more readily than the record's qualities, Face Control requires a closer look and possibly a warmer approach than assuming it is a rehash of what came before. Maybe I will give it just that upon 2, 3 or 4 more listens if I make it that far.
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