Face Control
Studio album by Handsome Furs
Released	March 10, 2009
Recorded	2007–2009
Genre	Electropunk
Length	38:27
Label	Sub Pop
Handsome Furs chronology
Plague Park (2007) Face Control (2009) Sound Kapital (2011)

Face Control is Handsome Furs' second full-length album, which was released through Sub Pop Records.^[1] The album was recorded and mixed by Wolf Parade's Arlen Thompson at Mount Zoomer, and it was mastered by Harris Newman at Hotel2Tango.^[1]

The album's title takes its name from the face control policy seen in upscale Russian nightclubs where people are admitted based on physical attractiveness.^[2][3][4]

The album was heavily influenced by the Handsome Furs' travels through Eastern Europe. Dan Boeckner has referred to the album as a "travel diary".^[5] In choosing the album's title, Boeckner said:

The thing that really attracted me to using that as an album title was that it was a perfect example of how post-Communist Russia had so embraced this crazed form of hyper-capitalism — the kind that has no regard whatsoever for human-beings — to an extent that would horrify even the most right-wing North American Republican capitalist.^[5]

Face Control was originally set to be released on February 3, 2009. However, the album's release dated was delayed until March 10, 2009,^[1] due to a legal issue.^[6] According to the official Wolf Parade fansite, the Handsome Furs referenced a New Order song on the track "All We Want, Baby, Is Everything".^[6] In order to use the reference, the band needed to legally clear it with New Order, which took some time to do and caused the release to be pushed back.^[6]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
The A.V. Club	(D) link
Drowned in Sound	(8/10)
Pitchfork Media	(8.0/10) link
PopMatters	(7/10) link
Rolling Stone	link at the Wayback Machine (archived April 10, 2009)
Spin Magazine	(8/10) link

Face Control has received generally positive reviews. On the review aggregate site Metacritic, the album has a score of 68 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[7]

Pitchfork Media's Paul Thompson praised the album, writing "On every conceivable level down to the cover art, Face Control bests its predecessor, adding stuttering nuance to their previously too-spare sound, which they drape over some of the finest songs Boeckner's ever written."^[8] Drowned in Sound's Alexander Tudor compared the album to Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A., writing "Yeah, it's THAT good..."^[9] Margaret Reges of Allmusic called Face Control "...a solid album, and just another example of Boeckner and Perry's tingling creative chemistry."^[2]

Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine gave the album a mixed review, writing "Fans of off-kilter pop will enjoy at least a few of the stronger cuts, but too much of Face Control sounds like the unfinished blueprint of a much better album."^[10] In a scathing review, The A.V. Club's Chris Martins wrote "Everything about these songs feels lazy, from the sludgy rock and tinsel-thin beats of 'Evangeline' to the couple's weak approximation of The Knife on '(White City)' to the half-assed 'Dancing In The Dark' paean at the end of 'Legal Tender.'" Martins concluded: "This is easily the most flavorless fruit yet to fall from the Wolf Parade family tree."^[11]

Spinner named Face Control the best Canadian album of 2009.^[12] The album was nominated for the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year in the 2010 Juno Awards, where it lost to Metric's Fantasies.^[13] In addition, Face Control was one of the long list nominees for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize.^[14]

The following people contributed to Face Control:^[15]

• Dan Boeckner
• Alexei Perry

• Jouko Lehtola - Artwork
• Harris Newman - Mastering, Remastering
• Dusty Summers - Art Direction
• Arlen Thompson - Audio Engineer, Engineer, Mixing

• "Legal Tender" - Radio K in-studio performance.
• "Thy Will Be Done" - Radio K in-studio performance.
• "I'm Confused" - Directed by Scott Coffey.

• Sub Pop Records page on Face Control Archived 2008-12-19 at the Wayback Machine