We’re Not Done Yet

Handsome Furs “I’m Confused”

Dan Boeckner has the sort of rock and roll voice that many strive to emulate, but few possess. He’s capable of a perfect, unfussy balance of raw passion and aloof coolness, and he effortlessly conveys a sense of being fully present in the moment, and selling the notion that every moment he sings is enormously consequential. A lot of the drama in his Handsome Furs songs comes down to his chemistry to his wife and partner, Alexei Perry. Whereas the full intensity of Boeckner’s voice can seem lost in the busy arrangements of his Wolf Parade material, Perry’s simple, urgent drum programming and atmospheric keyboards provide a stark, grim backdrop ideally suited to his tone of anguish and desperation. As with most every track on the duo’s second album Face Control, “I’m Confused” feels incredibly urgent and almost inexplicably momentous, as if it was written and performed under duress. In every passing second there is a mounting tension, and by the halfway mark, it seems as though it could break out into sex, violence, or violent sex at any moment.

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