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new Handsome Furs & Swan Lake albums, MP3 & tour dates

DOWNLOAD: Handsome Furs – What We Had (old MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Handsome Furs – Cannot Get, Started (old MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Swan Lake – All Fires (old MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Swan Lake – The Freedom (old MP3)

Handsome Furs

FACE CONTROL is the second album by Montreal’s Handsome Furs, 2007’s Plague Park was their first. Alexei Perry and Dan Boeckner wrote the songs on FACE CONTROL together. The album was recorded and mixed by Arlen Thompson at Mount Zoomer. It was mastered by Harris Newman at Hotel2Tango. It will be released on March 10th, 2009 [by Sub Pop].

Handsome Furs

That makes two-upcoming Wolf Parade-related albums in March….

The release of SWAN LAKE‘s new album is imminent! It is called “Enemy Mine”, to be released on Jagjaguwar on March 24th, 2009 (March 23rd in the UK).

Spencer KrugFor those unfamiliar, SWAN LAKE is the musical group featuring celebrated songwriter-mystics Daniel Bejar (of Destroyer and New Pornographers), Spencer Krug (of Sunset Rubdown and Wolf Parade) and Carey Mercer (of Frog Eyes and Blackout Beach).

Together they recorded Enemy Mine, their nine-song second album, in Victoria, British Columbia, in early 2008, a little more than a year after the release of their well-received debut collaboration, “Beast Moans”, also on Jagjaguwar.

While their debut album was a beautifully-weaved mash-up of their disparate song-writing styles, often with layer upon layer of various melodies and stylistics thrown into a collaborative cauldron to magical, and at times discordant effect, their second album “Enemy Mine” reflects a more stripped-down, more deliberate approach to collaboration. It’s as if they really tried to just make nice songs together. To quote Krug, “There’s architecture here.” Not that the lyric is about collaboration–it fits nicely though.

It is the band’s contention that this is the first known use of a “court painting” as a record cover used in popular music. As a result of this enthusiasm, the band had planned on calling the album “Before the Law”, a beloved Kafka parable and a reference to this court painting. However, the band is tired of being tagged as “literary”, so they dubbed the record “Enemy Mine”, a beloved movie from Bejar’s youth, and a good metaphor for collaboration.

Both new album tracklistings, and Handsome Furs tour dates (including SXSW), below…

Swan Lake Tracklisting:

Spanish Gold, 2044
Paper Lace
Heartswarm
Settle On Your Skin
Ballad Of A Swan Lake, Or, Daniel’s Song
Peace
Spider
A Hand At Dusk
Warlock Psychologist

Handsome Furs traclisting

1. Legal Tender
2. Evangeline
3. Talking Hotel Arbat Blues
4. (Passport Kontrol)
5. All We Want, Baby, Is Everything
6. I’m Confused
7. (White City)
8. Nyet Spasiba
9. Officer of Hearts
10. (It’s Not Me, It’s You)
11. Thy Will Be Done
12. Radio Kaliningrad

Handsome Furs – 2009 Tour Dates
Thu Mar 12 Mavericks Ottawa, ON
Fri Mar 13 Horseshoe Tavern (CMW) Toronto, ON
Sat Mar 14 Blind Pig Ann Arbor, MI
Sun Mar 15 Empty Bottle Chicago, IL
Mon Mar 16 Off Broadway St. Louis, MO
Tue Mar 17 Mojo’s Columbia, MO
SXSW
Sat Mar 21 The Loft Dallas, TX
Mon Mar 23 Jackpot Lawrence, KS
Wed Mar 25 The Aquarium (Dempsey’s Upstairs) Fargo, ND
Thu Mar 26 7th Street Entry Minneapolis, MN
Fri Mar 27 The Maintenance Shop Ames, IA
Sat Mar 28 The Mill Iowa City, IA
Mon Mar 30 Southgate House Newport, KY

Handsome Furs