Handsome Furs Win NXNE's Galaxie Rising Stars Award

North By Northeast is still a week away, but Montreal indie pop duo Handsome Furs have already been named winners of the Toronto music festival's Galaxie Rising Stars Award Of The CBC.

Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade) and fiancee Alexei Perry's mix of guitar and drum machine beats earned them the honour over all of the other acts playing NXNE. Five jury members made the decision, which will net the group $3,000 and increased exposure through Galaxie's digital music service.

Handsome Furs' Plague Park album was released by Sub Pop on May 15. Their NXNE showcase will take place at the Comfort Zone at midnight on June 8.

"Having been wholly unaware that we were up for this prize, it came as an even sweeter treat to us," says Boeckner. "We will use this gift in our ongoing labour to make new music."

Handsome Furs appear in a Stylin' feature in the June issue of Chart.

This is the seventh year that Galaxie and NXNE have partnered to reward deserving Canadian artists. The past winners were BrassMunk (2001), Graph Nobel (2002), Matt Mays (2003), Raising The Fawn (2004), The Ladies And Gentlemen (2005) and Sylvie (2006).