The band's name comes from the title of a short story that Alexei was writing at the time of band's conception.
Plague Park was released on May 22, 2007. Songs of earthbound captains, eggs made of gold and iron, and sleepless bodies have been born. Boeckner's disenchanted vocals thinly resonate while cloaked in a frenzied undertone of fear and uncertainty, all punctuated by bare drum machine beats. Through the course of each track, a deep-seated sense of longing is leveled out by staunch realism as a restless disdain for both urban life and smaller towns collide. Handsome Furs toured Europe before having recorded any songs, and has since opened for the likes of Paavoharju, Islaja, David Cross and Modest Mouse before having released a proper record.
Recorded at Wolf Parade's studio, Mount Zoomer, in the heart of December, Plague Park is their debut. It is a record of melancholic tendency and heartfelt desire; a stripped down symphony relegated between city and country, and made for ears of either side.
In a December 2007 interview, Dan revealed that Handsome Furs are in the writing stages of a new full-length album, titled Face Control: "When Alexei and I got back from Russia we were going to do an EP, but we’re also going to do a full album of new songs because we have so many. It’s going to be different than the last record... The last one was so intense and heavy in one direction that we wanted to do something different..." The inspiration behind Face Control involves a peculiar aspect of club culture they observed while on tour in Eastern Europe: if party goers wish to reserve a table at a bar in Moscow, they must pay large sums of money through PayPal or with cash; however, their seat is still not guaranteed - bouncers have the authority to turn reserved patrons away from the bar based solely on appearance, which has been coined "face control".
New songs were showcased during Handsome Furs spring tour, including the song titles: "Officer of Hearts", "Heaven", "Legal Tender", and "Radio Kaliningrad". On November 12, 2008, Sub Pop records announced that Handsome Furs second album Face Control will be released February 3, 2009. Also reported was the album's complete track listing, which includes twelve tracks.
Later the release date was pushed back to March 10: a New Order song is referenced in the track 'All We Want, Baby, Is Everything' and the band needed to legally clear it with New Order.
They split in May 2012.
Sing! Captain
Handsome Furs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Raining cloud, a hollow sound
When our lover gather round
And if they're cold
Then they're cold
Feed them wine, feed them chrome
We hate this place here
It's our home, It's our home
And your car-collapsing trees and I
Could turn them back to sound
With the torches in our hands we will reduce it
To the ground
I stood outside in the bright black night
Beneath their buzzing power lines
And I saw a number in the sky, in the sky
And if there's a God, he's a little gun
And he holds you closely inside these walls
But he hates his babies most of all
And your car-collapsing trees and I
Could turn them back to sound
With our torches in our hands we will reduce it to the ground
In the parliament there's a little
Hands that are reaching out
You can try and try and try but baby there's no way around
Sing Captain
Sing out loud
Sing, but we're bound
Bound
Sing Captain
Sing out loud
Sing Captain
We're Bound
The song 'Sing! Captain' by Handsome Furs, is a reflective piece on the connection between people, place and power. It starts by painting a gloomy picture of a town that is inhabited by people who feel trapped or misunderstood. They long for warmth and comfort, which they try to find in wine and other forms of distraction. The lines "We hate this place here, It's our home, It's our home" suggest that the townsfolk share a common disdain for their surroundings, but they have no choice but to remain there. The mention of chrome in the second verse adds to the bleakness of the picture painted by suggesting a layer of superficiality or artificiality.
The mood of the song changes slightly in the third verse, as the singer recounts a personal experience looking up at the night sky. The mention of power lines and a number in the sky suggest a futuristic, almost dystopian setting. The lyrics "if there's a God, he's a little gun, and he holds you closely inside these walls, but he hates his babies most of all" are open to interpretation, but can be seen as a comment on the cruelty of a higher power that creates, yet destroys what it has created.
The chorus of the song, which urges the eponymous Captain to sing, adds a note of hope and defiance, despite the despair in the verses. The repetition of the word 'bound' creates a sense of captivity, but also suggests that there is still some form of unity or shared experience that is keeping the people in the town together.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a town, just a little town
Referring to a town with a small population
Raining cloud, a hollow sound
Describing a dreary, melancholy atmosphere with the sound of rainfall
When our lover gather round
When lovers come together
And if they're cold
If they feel emotionally distant
Then they're cold
Their emotional state will be reflected in the physical coldness they feel
Feed them wine, feed them chrome
To distract from their emotional coldness, they consume substances such as alcohol or drugs
We hate this place here
Expressing a negative sentiment towards their current location
It's our home, It's our home
Despite hating the place, they still call it their home
And your car-collapsing trees and I
Could turn them back to sound
With the torches in our hands we will reduce it
To the ground
Referring to the destruction of the environment with the use of torches and a desire to restore the sound back to nature
I stood outside in the bright black night
Beneath their buzzing power lines
Describing a scene of standing outside at night with the sound of power lines buzzing in the background
And I saw a number in the sky, in the sky
And if there's a God, he's a little gun
The singer has a delusional experience of seeing a number in the sky and expressing a nihilistic sentiment by describing God as a little gun
And he holds you closely inside these walls
But he hates his babies most of all
Describing God as holding humanity captive yet expressing disappointment in the way his creation turned out
In the parliament there's a little
Hands that are reaching out
Referring to a corrupt government with individuals grasping for power
You can try and try and try but baby there's no way around
Despite attempts to change the system, the corruption remains
Sing Captain
Sing out loud
Sing, but we're bound
Bound
Sing Captain
Sing out loud
Sing Captain
We're Bound
Encouraging the captain to sing out loud even though they're bound, the repetition of 'bound' representing a sense of being trapped
Contributed by Henry F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.