The Handsome Family
http://www.handsomefamily.com
styles: neo-traditional folk, Appalachian folk, alt. country, Americana
others: Jim White, Clem Snide, Freakwater
 Last
Days of Wonder
Carrot Top, 2006
rating: 3.5/5
reviewer: leah
No music fan who appreciates good storytelling can deny that Rennie Sparks is
one of the most original and talented lyricists in indie music today. Until
Last Days of Wonder, her husband, Brett Sparks, has consistently rivaled her
ability on the songwriting end of things. As illustrated on any of the Handsome
Family's previous records – most notably In the Air and Through the
Trees – Brett has a knack for writing memorably quirky and often beautiful
melodies. With the exception of a few tracks on Last Days of Wonder,
however, Rennie's outstanding lyrics are lost amid boring, ultimately
forgettable melodies and lackluster instrumentation.
The centerpiece of the record is the lovely and melancholic "Beautiful William,"
about a man who disappears one day despite leaving behind signs of life as
usual: "He left his lights burning/ He left his perfect lawn/ His automatic
sprinklers about to switch on." The pretty melody floats in 3/4 time above a
folky, acoustic guitar accompaniment coupled with harmonica synth/recorded
sounds from crystal wine glasses. Each verse swells with Brett sadly singing,
"Why would he leave us/ Why would he leave us this way?"
Another bright spot on the record is "Our Blue Sky," a typical Handsome Family
song in its atypical embrace of all things natural and earthy, from black
buzzing flies to pigs and dirt, all things that share this world, regardless of
how "modernized" it may have become.
If the rest of the album shared the consistency of these two songs, it would
rival all the other HF records. And it's still better than most of the
records that have come out this year; it's just that the Sparks family has set
such a high precedent that even slight missteps are bound to disappoint.
1. Your Great Journey
2. Telsa's Hotel Room
3. These Golden Jewels
4. After We Shot The Grizzly
5. Flapping Your Broken Wings
6. Beautiful William
7. All The Time In Airports
8. White Lights
9. Bowling Alley Bar
10. Hunter Green
11. Our Blue Sky
12. Somewhere Else To Be
 Singing
Bones
Carrot Top, 2003
rating: 5/5
reviewer: leah
After hearing six unfailingly incredible albums from the Handsome Family, I was
looking forward to Singing Bones as yet another enjoyable collection of
songs. Rennie Sparks' ever-imaginative mind is, of course, dead on with the
interesting subject matter and her interesting way of stringing words together.
Seriously, how many artists are going to write songs about sailing down a
bottomless hole in a rusty old bathtub? Did you ever suspect that your 24 hour
Wal-Mart is haunted? Rennie concurs and wrote a song about it: "Late, late at
night, 24-hour store/ Ghosts fly up the aisles/ Across the shining floor/
Opening and closing automatic doors." There are TWO songs that speculate
about the end of the world, one about the possibility of the world ending in
ice, the other about it ending in fire. Both of these songs feature one Brett,
two Brett, three Brett, four, singing a capella in harmony with himself,
impressively so, I might say. I love it so much I don' t know what to do!
The vocals on this album surpass all of the Handsome Family's previous efforts.
Rennie joins in more often, refining the stronger tracks with gentle, floating
harmonies. Prime examples are "The Forgotten Lake" and "Whitehaven," two
delicious tracks with haunted fairy tale imagery.
Singing Bones casts a spell - it's a walk through a mythical forest
filled with foggy mysteries and intriguing supernatural events. So you must
listen immediately and quit griping about how nobody makes good music anymore.
1. The Forgotten Lake
2. Gail With the Golden Hair
3. 24-Hour Store
4. The Bottomless Hole
5. Far from Any Road
6. If the World Should End in Fire
7. A Shadow Underneath
8. Dry Bones
9. Fallen Peaches
10. Whitehaven
11. Sleepy
12. The Song of a Hundred Toads
13. If the World Should End in Ice
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