Dan Boeckner is over a decade into his career, and he’s spent most of it playing in bands whose appeal was at least partially based on their interpersonal dynamics. He was the lapsed paladin writing woolly Bruce Springsteen homages along mana-crazed warlock Spencer Krug in Wolf Parade, a band whose contributions to the halcyon days of '00s indie rock are now rather underrated; his work in Handsome Furs with ex-wife Alexei Perry hung on the implied sexual tension between his chugging riffs and her icy, frenzied synth lines; and as the co-leader of Divine Fits, he pitted his raw, heart-on-sleeve growl against Britt Daniel’s cooler, detached yelp, and ended up stealing the album’s best moments. Given that rich collaborative history, Boeckner’s first EP with his new band, Operators, makes for a slightly disconcerting listen: for the first time in a long time, he’s alone at the front, a lead voice who’s spent his career defining himself against the voices of others. Based on the short and tidy EP1, Boeckner isn’t going to dramatically change the formula that’s won him fans and critical acclaim now that he’s the only one steering the ship. Its five songs are an extension of the gruff, melody-driven rock he’s been making for a decade, granted an electronic bent and license to hit the dancefloor.
Operators’ sound is clearly derived from a long-running line of smart, populist bands that blurred the boundaries between electronic and rock music: New Order’s mechanical precision and sturdy rhythms, Depeche Mode’s ambitious, dramatic stadium goth, and the ragged, crate-digging electro of the DFA label’s early period. These influences have always been present in Boeckner’s music—Handsome Furs was synth-pop, just set in an alternate timeline where the Soviet Union became the dominant world power, and Wolf Parade deployed vintage synths with wild-eyed glee—but they’ve never been as explicitly rendered as they are on EP1. The EP’s sprawling penultimate track, “Ancient”, is a good example: Boeckner is backed up by synths that misfire and slowly rise before cresting and plummeting—it’s a drop, real and earned—into a filthy, swaggering little groove. It’s a show of good faith on Boeckner’s part: it’s one thing to pay lip service to the idea of bridging contemporary rock and dance music, and quite another to actually get people moving. He seems honestly invested in the concept. There’s a welcome physicality to the music, too, helped along by the reliable contributions of Divine Fits drummer Sam Brown and keyboardist Devojka. These songs gobble up space and hit hard.
The qualities that help EP1 hang alongside Boeckner's other, more prominent work are its unabashed sincerity and total investment in the idea of relevant, visceral rock music. Perhaps the EP's heart-on-sleeve pursuit of greatness isn't a huge surprise, given the band's creative core—we're talking about a guy whose finest moments are ripping, raw songs called "This Heart's on Fire" and "My Love Is Real"—but either way, it's endearing. Rather than feeling born out of boredom or trend chasing, EP1 radiates a reverence for its major influences, and a real excitement in its brightest, loudest moments. When the lurching, buzzing "Book of Love" splits open with a minute left and births a gorgeous, spiraling keyboard melody, you can almost see the band grinning and launching into their parts with renewed vigor; the same feeling is generated when lead single "True" first falls into its lockstep groove, or when the band kicks out the jams on the aforementioned "Ancient". Their joy is infectious, and it helps paper over some of the EP's cheesier moments. The repeated question "Who put the ancient code in your bones?" on "Ancient" might be the goofiest lyrical query this side of "Are we human or are we dancer," but it's easier to forgive when it's delivered with energy and enthusiasm. That's what makes this first effort from Operators a worthwhile exercise: it's a chance to hear a veteran like Boeckner taking mild risks and having fun.
