The Handsome Family,

The Platform, Morecambe
13 May 2006

They say that being in a band is like being married to four people. Unless you’re a duet. The Handsome Family are a duet of husband and wife, Brett and Rennie Sparks. They tour with a variety of guest musicians. Tonight they played at the Platform in Morecambe with Stephen Dorocke on Steel Guitar.

I get in a few minutes late. I’m not used to a band getting on stage on time. I later found out that I’d missed the support slot of New Hawks. I’m told they played a well-delivered and well-received set. Dan’s a great songwriter with a lazy relaxed attitude and a sharp focussed style. I’m sorry I missed them.

I didn’t know what to expect from main band The Handsome Family. I’ve not heard them before and I’ve not seen them in any media. I didn’t notice them for the first few numbers, I didn’t catch any personality. There was a weight in the music that for a while obscured all else. They were the kind of heavy you get hitching thru a rainy night to some grey Eastern European country. No real hope on the horizon and nothing real to cry about, just a dark beauty in a misfortunate scene.

They sing a velvet soundtrack like Charlie Rich or Merle Haggard, deep and resonating. I tried to take in the lyrics but it’s difficult on first hearing. They’ve got a sound like wet black soil being split with a silver spade. It’s heavy and I get to noticing people are drinking and laughing and it’s Saturday night and the band are drinking and laughing and I missed the joke. I try to pay more attention.

Brett’s been singing a thick soup of black coffee since I got here and about five tunes in Rennie takes a turn. All previous have come from a gut as big as a church bell and a marrow as deep as a well and so the sound of this electrified crow is disturbing and it’s kinda cool that she takes her voice and refuses to do anything pretty with it. She’s got an expression that deviates from all notion of the song. It’s a fine sound and it’s at this point that I take some notice of the band.

Firstly at the beautiful woman making this noise. She’s wearing a concession to Spring in the floral pattern on her black dress. She’s got the aura of the medicated and an outward disturbance that suggests an inner attitude. She’s got an out of place eighties electro strick bass.

Her sidekick holds a great fat black guitar and is looking like an ex university teacher, like he’s lost his job last week and hasn’t been wasting too much time on wardrobe. He’s looking relaxed like a travelling salesman with nothing to sell.

Steve on steel guitar, mandolin and fiddle is looking like he’s been dragged from the computer to get to tonight’s gig, like he’s got his mind on a project he’s almost cracked. He’s concentrating but not necessarily on the instrument at hand.

They interact like we’re at their house, no stage dynamics, no build ups, no professionals. They’re a mess but a self confident mess and only in-between songs. The songs are strong. I catch a lyric at last, it took a while but it’s worth it and I keep it stored. I’m later told this was covered by Cerys Mathews of all people. I find this surprising. The lyrics are something like: ‘I’ll jump from the Golden Gate bridge. Anything to feel weightless again.’

And I don’t know about you but I find it's lyrics like this make life easier to swallow. Lines like this get lazily referred to as depressive but I take comfort in this company. I take comfort in the poetry. I call it descriptive.

Songs about murder follow songs about suicide, interspersed with the barrage of quotes that I was going to use for this review. I guess you’ll have to check their website or any future tours for their humour, There was humour but it’s like slicing a compilation tape of Dvorak, Joy Division and Townes Van Zant with excerpts from Victor Borge or Blaster Bates. You know it might have worked on the night but I couldn’t say how.

I guess the final point I want to make is that the last thing I noticed tonight was there was no chatter thru this set. It was an audience who enjoyed the performance like an audience enjoys a movie or a play. I’m glad nobody had to tell anyone to be quiet, I’m glad the band didn’t have to awkwardly ask for a little respect. Maybe I was the only one who missed the jokes. I sure wasn’t the only one crushed by the weight of this music.

They got a new album out soon and I guess they’ve got a few old albums out already. Check the local Library or my independent record shop 'Faeries Wear Boots' on Meeting House Lane.

Larry Jones
15 May 2006