Operators has been a revelation for Dan Boeckner

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      There’s relief in Dan Boeckner’s voice as he discusses an upcoming move back to Montreal, noting that being stationed in San Jose for the last couple of years had him missing friends and free health care. He’s still keeping his California home part-time, though, because living in the Bay Area has its perks. Beyond the obvious beach-day opportunities, the Operators frontman reveals he’s been getting a kick out of studying the cult vibes cropping up in the Silicon Valley business sector.

      “I am really fascinated by this sort of bizarre, techno-libertarian, postpolitical thing that’s happening out here—the people talking about artificial intelligence and approaching singularity,” Boeckner says on the line from San Jose, adding incredulously, “You’ve got conferences here where people are literally going back to these discredited, whacked-out, ’60s-era psychotherapy things like est and applying computer science to them and saying that they’re neurally hacking themselves.”

      The Vancouver Island–bred musician notes that while he finds it intriguing, he hasn’t quite worked techno-babble and self-help quackery into his life or lyrics just yet. It’s inarguable, though, that Operators has rebooted Boeckner’s outlook.

      When the Straight last caught up with the songwriter in 2013, he was supporting the debut album from his Divine Fits project with Spoon’s Britt Daniel. Boeckner’s often heartbroken contributions to the LP, A Thing Called Divine Fits, were weighted heavily toward his self-described “epic breakup” with his wife and former Handsome Furs bandmate, Alexei Perry. He had also, however, just picked up an old 8-track recorder and started demoing new tunes for a then under-wraps project called Operators.

      Inspired by a love of ’80s electro-pop, the experimental soundscaping of Sonic Youth, and the tightness of Fugazi, Boeckner began crafting cuts on his own before bringing Divine Fits drummer Sam Brown and keyboardist Devojka into the project. A fertile writing period led to a first show at a San Jose punk club, lots of touring, and a recording session in Montreal that yielded the spirited, synth-driven EP1.

      “This band has been a revelation for me,” Boeckner says with satisfaction of the quick rise of Operators. “I’m still kind of drifting around the continent playing shows, but it feels hopeful instead of completely dislocated.”

      Fittingly, the group’s first offering features a song called “Start Again”, which sets the staccato pop punch of early Depeche Mode against lyrics about pushing forward. In a determined drawl, Boeckner sings: “People that you know, they’re not there/You better start again.” Elsewhere, the sexy catwalk slink of “True” has him looking for a new number one.

      Thankfully, there are more uplifting Operators tunes on the way, including a full-length debut and various singles. Of these, Boeckner particularly talks up a “late-’80s acid-house workout” landing sometime soon, called “Ecstasy in My House”.

      “It’s a hopeful song about blanking out, starting with a blank slate,” the songwriter explains, “but because I can’t seem to write a song that’s completely happy, it is a little melancholy or mournful.”

      Owing, perhaps, to Operators’ positive impact on his psyche, Boeckner quickly rebounds from that self-deprecating dig with a more optimistic revelation of what’s to come: “It’s got a big triumphant ending.”

      Operators plays the Fox Cabaret on Friday and Saturday (January 30 and 31).

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