Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Handsome Furs

Plague Park

Label: Sub Pop Release Date: 11/06/2007

25002
Mike_Diver by Mike Diver June 19th, 2007

An album that sounds far bigger than its minimal constituent parts might imply from on-paper confines – each song is crafted using guitar, synthesizers and a primitive drum machine – Plague Park is far closer to the bedazzling indie-rock of Wolf Parade than the chuck-everything-in approach of companion side-project Sunset Rubdown. With the Parade’s Dan Boeckner at the helm, this LP can be summarised, succinctly, as a stripped-back take on the often epic tendencies of the celebrated Montréal act; its appeal is instant, and that voice serves as a sturdy bridge between bands. Listen closer, though, and great rewards await those with patience to burn.

Like Apologies To The Queen Mary, the record that saw Wolf Parade welcomed by the indie underground’s collective conscience, Plague Park possesses an unsightly surface layer of cluttered sound and alien screeches that require swift penetrating to enjoy the sticky gooiness that resides within. Although a duo – Boeckner is ably assisted by his fiancée, Alexei Perry – Handsome Furs’ music is deftly assembled, finding pleasure in perplexing layers that, with any other act, simply wouldn’t work. There’s depth, almost of a kind unparalleled given the instruments employed, that sucks even the most wet behind the ears of newcomers into murk and darkness. Yet, for all the foreboding metal-on-metal scrapings that initially make their presence known, there’s a heart pumping furiously at the centre Plague Park that’s in healthier order than that title might imply.

Partially based around a concept fluttering about Finnish fairytales and some expansive park in Helsinki, lyrically the record’s stronger than might be expected from something so rooted in keeping things simple; Boeckner’s voice is, of course, instantly grabbing, but let his words sink in and Plague Park takes on another dimension. There’s a longevity here that, say, acts like ADULT. can’t claim. While the acts share similarities – there’s sheets of noise and bursts of digital bombast, coupled with a tone that’s often oppressive – Handsome Furs’ technique allows a little additional tenderness to creep into proceedings. ‘Dead + Rural’ might be as savage as its title suggests, albeit with completely contemporary rave embellishments, but on the whole this is an album that lacks a bite to complement its shuddering bark.

Of course, what most people are foaming for is another Wolf Parade album, but in the absence of such a release, at least until early 2008, Plague Park will serve as a fine substitute for now. It is a Roger Milla sort of release, if you will, albeit with legs that can go whatever distance the project deems is best before handing fifty per cent of its crew back to higher-profile concerns.

  • 8
    Mike Diver's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing


  • Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alternative must sees



Left-arrow

Telegraphs

Across A Wire EP

Mobback
25007
25015

Night Of The Brain

Wear This World Out

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145
  • news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143

    news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141
  • news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139

    Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138
  • Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137

    Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
  • Festival Review


    Way Out East: DiS Does Sharpe Festival 2019

  • 106135
MORE


    news


    The Neptune Music Prize 2016 - Vote Now

  • 103918
  • Takeover


    The Winner Takes It All

  • 50972

    Takeover


    10 Things To Not Expect Your Record Producer To...

  • 93724
  • review


    The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium

  • 4317

    review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044
  • feature


    New Emo Goth Danger? My Chemical Romance confro...

  • 89578

    feature


    DiS meets Justice

  • 27270
  • news


    Our Independent music filled alternative to New...

  • 104374
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND