We were invited along to THE PHOENIX in Exeter to check out a band called THE HANDSOME FAMILY, not one that we’ve come across before so I packed my cameras and hot footed it down to the venue to see what was going on….

I found out that this was the first time that they had toured since 2018, so a lot had changed and many of the venues that they may have originally planned on performing in could well have closed owing to the lack of support throughout 2020 and 2021 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic so I was particularly interested to see what they had to say about taking a 4 year hiatus from hitting the road to spread their music to the masses.

The Handsome Family have written some of the most haunting and beautiful songs in American music and throughout their 30-year career, Brett and Rennie Sparks have created songs that transform the mundane landscape of modern life into a place of mysterious portent. Their songs take place in parking lots and big box stores, under overpasses and in airports. They sing about Custer’s last stand and automatic lawn sprinklers in the same song. Rennie’s lyrics often focus on the myriad creatures that live at the edges of the man-made world: the sparrows, rats, cockroaches and crows that share our cities.

It’s well known that many great songwriters have covered their work, among them Jeff Tweedy, Jason Lytle, and Andrew Bird as well as Christy Moore. David Bowie wrote the words, “The Handsome Family” in a notebook right before his death. Who knows what could have been?

Opening the entertainment was Chicago born DANIEL KNOX, a singer songwriter who has had dealings with the likes of David Lynch, Rufus Wainwright and Damon Albarn in the past. I was interested to read that Jarvis Cocker (Pulp) sang the lead vocals for ‘Capitol’ on Knox’s 2018 record Chasescene proving that this musician isn’t just a one trick pony.

Knox’s baritone vocal and heavy vibrato echoed around the auditorium which carried an overwhelming theme of darkness, but tricked you into thinking otherwise with his rather jaunty operatic pop/cabaret styled piano playing which evened out the doom/joy balance nicely.

As his set progressed, we learned more about the subject matter to his songs, this ranged from;

Imaginary Friends
Car Crashes
Illinois
Star Trek
Kidnap Fantasies
General Disillusionment
Germs
The end of the World
Love

He introduced each song in such a ‘matter-of-fact’ way, it raised a smile and a laugh, it was as if you were in a hospital, waiting to be told some bad news but the consultant was hell bent on cracking some jokes to lighten the mood.

I loved his style and approach to music and will definitely be digging deeper into his 6 album back catalogue and also the soundtracks that he has had involvement in, I strongly urge you to do the same.

The banter between Brett and Rennie Sparks started as they took to the stage, Rennie had woken from a nap in the van earlier in the day and realised that one of her sneakers was missing and she had been asking the band members what they knew about it. Nobody admitted having played a part and the topic was raised regularly throughout the show, each time Rennie mentioned ‘Sneaker’, someone on the back row would shout out ‘trainer’ and before long, she got the hang of the English translations and went with it. Brett mentioned that it was strange that people would wear ‘trainers’ unless they were ‘training’ for something, Rennie explained that she wore them as ‘leisure shoes’ which caused Brett to raise an eyebrow and shake his head in defeat…..

The set was filled with some of the finest dark, brooding Americana that I had ever been fortunate enough to witness and again, the subject matter that made up the content of their music was interesting, one moment, Rennie was pining for pancakes that sadly weren’t on the menu as the diner chef was in jail and the next, she was launching into a number that Brett had written after a night of sleep-talking (on her part) which made for some fabulous lines.

As the set wore on, the conversation turned to shoe related shopping and Brett told a story about how the tallest man in the world (Robert Wadlow) aka The Giant of Illinois would turn up at shoe stores so people could see how big his shoes really were….

Other tracks covered topics such as octopuses (which included some immense aquatic effects), a bird feeder that they put up in Chicago and no birds fed from it in 12 years and how ponytails on men are just….wrong! The music was enticing, deep, multi-layered and delivered with a real shine to it, even if the theme around them was rather off the wall.

I noted that the drummer played a multi-hatted role with a xylophone and a variety of percussion instruments at his disposal including a shaky-egg thingy that came out towards the end of the show. When he played with brushes, it was as if someone was stood behind you making the sound, utterly spellbindingly beautiful stuff indeed!

I can’t write a review of the show and not mention the lead/slide guitar player who performed flawlessly throughout the night. no task was too big for him and his style and passion really added to the entire performance.

The Handsome Family may be renowned for their track ‘Far From Any Road’ which featured as the main title theme for the first season of the 2014 crime drama True Detective but you didn’t feel for one minute that anyone in the room was there for that track alone, it was as if everyone had come along to enjoy the show in its entirety. THF are what I refer to as a ‘listening band’ and luckily, their audience are avid listeners too which was a sight for sore eyes given the amount of gigs I attend and often see people carrying on with their mundane conversations even after the band have started to play.

If you already have tickets to see THF on one of the remaining dates of their UK/Eire tour, well done, have a muffin, if on the other hand you haven’t, then make every effort to do so as I can guarantee you’ll have a great night watching and listening to this incredible band perform their songs and bicker and argue between them….