I’m not going to say that critics overlooked Dan Boeckner when it came to Wolf Parade’s Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005). It’s pretty much impossible to ignore a guy when he’s writing songs as blazingly intense as “Shine a Light” and “This Heart’s on Fire.” Still, Apologies was the first time that most of the world had heard Spencer Krug. So we got reviews like Aaron Newell’s for this very site, where he wrote, “Boeckner is nearly as remarkable as Krug, simply for his ability to howl out earnest, Seger/Springsteenesque gutwrenchers.” And that’s what we took him for: a cathartic rock howler.

Thing is, when you start paying attention and checking out his work with the more abrasive Atlas Strategic it becomes pretty clear that Boeckner is no light-weight. So now, after a well-received sophomore Sunset Rubdown LP from Krug, Boeckner is coming forward with the darkest, quietest, most intense songs of his career with Handsome Furs’ debut record, Plague Park. He still howls, sure, but this is more about the quiet menace and subdued violence. The third track off the LP, “Handsome Furs Hate This City” highlights pretty much everything that Boeckner and Alexei Perry are doing with this project. The song plays out over a simple drum pattern, using a chiming keyboard reminiscent of some of the early Wolf Parade demos, until everything kicks into high gear in the killer final third of the song. Boeckner sings of hated cities, finding home, and the sinister things that lurk in dark corners, all in that impassioned wail that he seems to have down pat. When he lets loose with doubled vocals on the refrain -- “life is long / and hollow” -- he sells it with resignation and weariness totally unbefitting his age. He may not have stolen the show with Apologies to the Queen Mary, but Plague Park should be raising anticipation for Wolf Parade LP II to a fever pitch.

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