Handsome Furs consistently manage to top themselves. Their last album, Face Control, was fantastic, but Sound Kapital improves upon it in nearly every way. Face Control often felt lyrically dense, whereas Sound Kapital is a much more streamlined effort. It probably helps that the husband and wife duo of Dan Boeckner and Alexi Perry wrote the album entirely on keyboards.
The other problem Face Control had was that it occasionally seemed too obvious. It was full of massive choruses, and thumping bass, but after twenty or thirty listens the songwriting reveals itself to be relatively by the numbers. Sound Kapital doesn’t have this problem.
The album continues the Eastern European themes, but is more influenced by ‘80’s German Techno. It looks strange on paper, but the sounds work very well. The album opens with “When I Get Back,” a slightly claustrophobic fist pumper. The beats are fierce, and the lyrics let loose a sense of uncomfortable tension that runs through the rest of the album.
A few tracks later, “Memories of the Future” continues the themes of the past colliding with the present. The phrase “nostalgia never meant that much to me” is yelped almost like a battle cry. The song plays like a massive club hit in an alternate universe.
Track five, “Serve the People” begins slowly, with a discordant piano. The song gets thick about forty-five seconds in, with slow bleeps, before the chorus comes in, and turns the whole into an epic anthem. “’Til the cops said move along,” sings Boeckner, increasingly alienated by law enforcement. He continues: “but they don’t serve the people.” It’s a tense, weighty song that improves with every listen. It feels like there’s a story behind the thing, but leaving it open this way, it builds a sense of intrigue, and makes it feel more human.
After three more songs (including first single “What About Us”), the album ends with the seven minute “No Feelings.” It’s a joyously nihilistic jam full of hand-claps, and sing-along lyrics. It’s the perfect way to end a fantastic set of songs that is recommended unreservedly to anyone who enjoys indie rock. It’s also probably one of the best new albums that will come out this year.
Tracklisting:
- When I Get Back
- Damage
- Bury Me Standing
- Memories of the Future
- Serve the People
- What About Us
- Repatriated
- Cheap Music
- No Feelings
