Loose Records (label)
16 September 2016 (released)
16 September 2016
In the case of The Handsome Family it took the use of 2003’s ‘Far From Any Road’ to soundtrack recent tele-fad-phenomenon True Detective and they were away. From unknown to super-known, the cheap seats to front row. Roll up …
Two years on and the New Mexican duo release tenth long-player Unseen and another truism is ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. Time, space and place (interior/anterior/exterior) have long featured on their recordings and this is no different. Ambience, atmosphere and allure pervade throughout, the psychic terrain and mental plain there for all to absorb (should you be open).
‘Gold’ sets the tone with Brett’s deep croak narrating a murder ballad that features our ‘anti-hero’ with ‘snake tattoos, a ski mask, and gunshot wounds’ the vivid imagery and time-chimes reminiscent of Springsteen’s ‘The River’. Mournful melancholia, familiar bedfellows round these parts. The Renee led ‘The Sea Rose’ ambles in and along, a duet to rank with Tammy and George, Kenny and Dolly. By golly!
The metaphorical ‘The Red Door’ epitomises the ‘unseen’ theme, light seeping out from ‘under the stairs’, illuminating and revealing in its glare. ‘Gentlemen’ is a tribute to William Crookes, creator of the first vacuum tube in 1875, used to detect spirits from unseen dimensions. Sparse, spartan sounds support this parabnormal tale.
The wistfully nostalgic ‘Back in my day’ is exemplary in its full-on message: ‘the past is always better when viewed though a rose-tinted prism’. Yes, life seemed simpler and more stable pre-technonanism, the modern screen addictions hampering the creative spirit and stifling spiritual development through false and mis-remembered memories. Conclusion? Best to embrace and shape than reject. Learn and progress. A lament for the present never sounded so sad.
Also taking in countrified-finger-pickin’-honk (‘The Silver Light’) and the barn-dancing ‘Harvest-like’ ‘Tiny Tina’ the album is dolorous and ever poignant.
Ten songs to woo you, attractive and amorous, some might say ‘andsome. Relent and acquiesce, let the light in.
