Face Control

The trouble with Plague Park, the 2007 debut LP from the then-betrothed duo Handsome Furs, was that it never sounded like anything but a side project. And I suppose it was; chances are, if you know Handsomer Fur Dan Boeckner, you know him as co-marshal of Wolf Parade. More than that, though, Plague Park was far too long on mood and entirely too spare with the nervy buildups and outsized choruses Boeckner's provided to his parent band's records. What Plague lacked in focus it made up in atmosphere and the odd killer hook, but it was an oddly dispassionate album for a couple of young lovers, and it did little more than make one wish Wolf Parade would get on with it already.