They hate their city, so they’re on tour. Or that’s what Montreal’s Handsome Furs would have you believe after even a cursory listen.
The charmingly disillusioned husband-wife duo, just one of a hundred or so Wolf Parade side projects, hit the Troubadour on Saturday in support of their 2007 debut LP, “Plague Park.”
Unfortunately, so did opener Mr. Tube and the Flying Objects, a single-tempo, single-volume, jam-band-y eight-piece that seemed to cater more to the boozy, middle-aged state fair crowd than fans of the Furs’ brooding minimalism.
But they played a relatively short set, and after Mr. Tube left the stage, the Handsome Furs’ Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry quickly set up their equipment (a drum machine, miniature keyboard and guitar ““ nothing more) grabbed a last-minute beer, wooed the crowd with a few cute jokes and jumped right into “Cannot Get, Started.” And in accordance with the title’s awkward, forced pause, midway through the song Perry pushed the wrong button on her Korg, causing a puzzled Boeckner to play lyrical catch-up. After a few phrases clumsily offered over the wrong beats, he gave up and the duo happily acknowledged the irony of their predicament before deciding to restart the track. Never has an onstage error been so endearing.
They finished the song and went right into the next, “Snakes on the Ladder.” Throughout the heavy, slow-moving track ““ and the entire show, for that matter ““ Perry kept the energy going by tenaciously tapping her right foot to the beats that she commanded.
During the (relatively) upbeat “Dead + Rural” she danced furiously in a green sequin minidress, straight from the local thrift store, the too-big straps taped to her shoulder blades to keep from falling down. A very sweaty Boeckner fed off of her energy, swinging his guitar neck around and dancing spasmodically in true indie rocker style.
Then, in keeping with the we-hate-cities-and-we-aren’t-in-love-with-the-modern-world theme, the duo segued into “Handsome Furs Hate This City.” Boeckner happily dedicated the (intentionally) thin, repetitive song to love/hate tastemaker Pitchfork. After they finished the song, the audience erupted into thunderous applause.
Boeckner and Perry basked in their warm reception for a moment, throwing compliments and gratitude at the eager audience. They quickly got back to their instruments to perform “Dumb Animals,” followed by a new song, which read pretty much like the current material but swapped the heavy guitar noise for light, airy arpeggios and a shiny red tambourine.
When he finished the new, happier, tambourine song, Boeckner threw the instrument on the ground and returned in “Sing! Captain” to the poetic gloom that characterizes him as a lyricist. Despite its lyrical content, though, “Sing! Captain” got much of the audience to uncross their arms, stop the head bobbing and actually dance.
The energetic crowd sustained itself throughout the rest of the show, while Perry and Boeckner played several new songs and the crowd favorite “What We Had.” Finally, after a nonstop charge through several new tracks and the vast majority of their nine-song catalogue, the Handsome Furs left the stage appreciative, drenched in sweat and just a little bit drunk.
They may hate their own city, but it’s hard not to love Los Angeles after a show like that.
““ Christie McCollum
E-mail McCollum at cmccollum@media.ucla.edu.