Handsome Furs at The Black Cat
The married musicians celebrate their anniversary with a sex-saturated show
You know those couples who can’t leave it in the bedroom? The ones who flagrantly make out at every available opportunity? The ones who are always petting and eyeing each other regardless of who's around? Handsome Furs’ Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry are that couple. But unlike every other sickeningly self-absorbed duo, Boeckner and Perry manage to pull it off and—as seen at last night’s show at The Black Cat—are happy to bring everyone else along for the ride.
Opening acts The Cinnamon Band and DRI hardly deserve to be called foreplay. The former, though promising, proved to be too predictable, while the latter's indecisiveness created a mess of mixed influences and musical overreaching. Perhaps making up for the slow start, Boeckner and Perry came out big with “Legal Tender,” the poppy, clap-happy first song off this year’s Face Control. The duo infused the somewhat repetitive tune with a surprisingly anthemic quality thanks to a blazing bass and a cacophonous buildup. The couple took a risk by opening with a track that might have been better saved for the encore (and, to continue with the sexual analogies, akin to blowing one’s load), but the rest of the nine-song set comfortably kept up with that crowd-pumping lead.
The word "intimate" often gets thrown around with regard to romantically involved musicians, but during last night's show, the sound was more like orgiastic glee. As the two locked eyes and circled one another during “All We Want, Baby, Is Everything”—a song with more than a passing resemblance to New Order—the room swelled with voyeuristic delight. That same salacious vibe also came through on angry ballad “Evangeline” and the oddly wistful “Handsome Furs Hate This City.”
Boeckner’s experience as the guitarist for Wolf Parade (and formerly with the disappointingly short-lived Atlas Strategic) was obvious in his improvisation and onstage confidence. Perry, on the other hand, was refreshingly eager—a gushing, grateful performer who defied her stationary keyboard by jumping around wildly while helplessly grinning at the crowd. Combined, they struck the perfect balance of enthusiasm and aloofness.
With its post-punk and synth-heavy formula, Handsome Furs draws on a catalog of bygone musical obsessions, but there’s also a thread of club-kid liveliness in the mix—especially on 2007’s Plague Park, which plays out with the unbridled energy of a long, drunken night. That Boeckner and Perry also celebrated their two-year wedding anniversary last night only compounded the palpable sensuality of their performance. As both a couple and a band, their honeymoon phase is certainly not over.
