The Handsome Family’s newest album Wilderness is not a pop album, and guitarist and singer Brett Sparks seems to align his band’s aesthetics with his beliefs, likening modern pop music to a cult of throwaway songs by transient artists.
“If you listen to modern pop music there’s just so much tossed off,” Brett drawls in his deep Texan accent.
“Once they cease nobody will ever remember them. But there’s so much folk music that runs so deep and the well is so deep. It is one of the most faceted and the music is weird and interesting in ways that you wouldn’t expect.”
In true folk tradition, the band’s songs are a mix of Rennie Sparks’ deeply layered prose while husband Brett translates the mood of her writing into his sonic phrases with an affinity probably only possible between a husband and wife.
The duo’s fourth visit to Australia sees them accompanied by percussionist Jason Toth and comes in the wake of their ninth studio release, animal oriented concept album Wilderness.
In an unusual move, Rennie has also released a book of essays about each of the animals that appears on the tracks to let listeners delve further into the themes.
Despite having been playing for over two decades, their homeland never quite “got” the band’s music according to Rennie.
“I think the further we get away from home the more people seem to understand us,” Rennie tells me from the couple’s home.
“I’m not sure what that means but it seems to be that way. People in America find us really strange and people in other countries see we’re just telling stories and they’re just stories.”
“I think the further we get away from home the more people seem to understand us.”The tracks on the new album each take their name from a certain animal or bug and tell tales with themes of death, deception and madness in the band’s iconic mix of folk, psychedelia and country.
The songs could almost be sung as lullabies with the music deceptively covering the harsh realities of the lyrics.
Death has been a recurring theme in the band’s lyrics and has often seen them labelled macabre. However, as main lyricist, Rennie has never seen the inevitable as something to shy away from, instead looking at it as a way of showing the beauty of life. But how?
“Well, it seems obvious to me,” she laughs. “You can’t, as a painter I know, have light without putting a shadow next to it and that’s the way things are. If you can’t see one without the other, you’ll live in a room your whole life. You need to see a few little shadows, it’s OK. I think people are so frightened of experiencing their lives fully and they’re missing out.”
“I think everything is only going to come past us once, even this moment on the phone. Every moment is miraculous and should be celebrated for it. Even the most mundane moment of your life is still one little moment of all the moments in this infinite universe.
“It can’t be replaced, it can’t be changed. It’s pretty amazing that we’re even a part of it at all. Where you live in time and space is not a bad thing to consider, it gives you a way of understanding life a little bit more.”
Man’s interconnectedness with animals is a theme heavily laden through the newest album and comes through mightily in Wilderness’ opening track ‘Flies’ about the last stand of Colonel Custer in 1876. It’s a song that envisions armies of ants fighting and dying for their queen alongside the dead body of Custer after his disastrous offensive against a Native American army.
“That’s the problem with a computer. Everyone can record but that doesn’t mean everyone should.”“It’s important to remind yourself that we’re animals too,” Rennie reminds us. “We’re living creatures sharing this planet with other living creatures. It’s comforting to realise we have so much in common with ants and termites and much more than we think.”
“One thing I like to remind people is that when dinosaurs were around they ruled this planet for millions of years. We’ve been here for 2 million years and we’re pretty much winding down.”
The Handsome Family has always been a strongly independent operation even taking control of production and recording.
Wilderness was no exception having been recorded in the couple’s converted garage where every record since 2000’s In The Air has been. Not one to deny the impact of the great producers (“George Martin, George Martin and… George Martin”), Sparks has seen the bell tolling on big studios and producers for a while now.
“Those days are over,” he declares. “Big, expensive, tripped out, great studios are still viable barely and still exist by the skin of their teeth. Sound City went out of business where hundreds of records were made. But eventually they’ll go because no one can afford to record there anymore because nobody is buying the records.
“It only stands to reason before the studios go, the producer has to go. It’s like a manager; if you’re an adult, you figure it out. It’s getting to where that kind of thing is becoming an obsolete job description to me.”
In the past, the guitarist has called the computer the new folk instrument because it gives the opportunity for everyone and anyone to record. Unfortunately, like the female Sparks says, there’s darkness to every light
“I’ve publicly come out and said please don’t hand me your CDs, it’s too much,” Brett sighs. “I get handed so many CDs by people who I’m like, ‘You know, you need to let this cook for a while. It’s not ready.’ No really, it’s true! That’s the problem with a computer. Everyone can record but that doesn’t mean everyone should.”
Life lessons for up-coming musicians probably can’t come from a better source than a staunchly independent man who has managed his own successful career for 20 years, so keep this in mind.
“You don’t want to be giving people stuff that’s sub-par because in the future they won’t take it again. You need to pick your fuck ups carefully because you only really get one or two chances. So make sure when you press that demo CD into your idol’s hands that it’s ready to go.”
Wilderness is out now through Carrot Top Records.
The Handsome Family Australian Tour 2013
Thursday 10th October – Moonshine Bar, Manly NSW (Free Entry!)
Sunday 13th October – The Basement, Sydney, NSW
Monday 14th October – Blackbear Lodge, Brisbane, QLD
Wednesday 16th October – The Grace Emily, Adelaide, SA
