The Handsome Family, In The Air (Carrot Top) 9+
Brett and Rennie Sparks of The Handsome Family aren't the first alternative country band to be accused of insincerity. Will Oldham has forever been criticized for tainting his Appalacian folk with sneering sarcasm. While they may have been guilty of this in the beginning, it is apparent that all artists concerned have truly fallen in love with the music. While Handsome Family's third album, Through The Trees featured irony and intellectualism, their sensual harmonies were as sincere as it gets. The Chicago-based husband and wife duo recorded their fourth album cheaply at home on their Macintosh, but have achieved a lushness that rivals Lambchop, and timeless songwriting that transcends genre and geography. Rennie Sparks' lyrical concerns recall Nick Cave's obsession with gothic country and murder ballads (the remorseless fratricide of "Up Falling Rock Hill" and "My Beautiful Bride"). Themes of death, fear, and nature as a deadly force run rampant. In "Poor, Poor Lenore," Edgar Allan Poe meets Tim Burton, and their lovelorn protégé is carried off by crows. The clam digger in "Lie Down" is seduced by the sea into drowning, and "The Sad Milkman" leaps from his rooftop to join the moon, his "milky goddess." Before you decide they need to check themselves into therapy, morbid themes have been a staple of American music since long before The Carter Family, the Louvin Brothers and gospel. The fire and brimstone hymnal "When That Helicopter Comes" predicts that "the dead gonna wake and sing and roll their bones in the grass." Two of the prettiest songs, "A Beautiful Thing" and "So Much Wine" share similar stories of romantic longing foiled by too much alcohol and bloody accidents, with the beauty of the night sky providing bittersweet respite. The songs of In The Air achieve a perfect musical fusion thanks to Brett's imaginative and delicate touch with a wide variety of folky instruments and found objects. Andew Bird supplements his "fiery violin" on a few tracks. Alt. Country naysayers and party poopers beware, The Handsome Family have arrived with a classic album and there's nothing y'all can do about it other than come to terms with it before it destroys you.
