The Handsome Family - Last Days of Wonder

Genre alt-country Publisher Carrot Top Records External Links Official The Handsome Family Website Official Carrot Top Records Website

If quiet, laid back country-laden sounds isn't your usual style, keep The Handsome Family's Last Days of Wonder around for a rainy day. I wasn't in the right mindset to sit down and really hear this album until an unexpectedly sodden Monday morning forced me off my bike and onto the bus. I employed my trusty iPod while trudging to the bus stop, shivering under a too-small umbrella, cowering in the face of a too-long work week and bleary-eyed from too-little sleep. If that doesn't make the perfect back drop for a little country, (REAL country, not that pop Alan Jackson crap), I don't know what will. All I needed was a beat up pick-up truck, a mongrel at my side and a can of Blatz.

Instrumentally, the arrangements are sparse and encompass all sounds country. Wisps of pedal steel tickle "Your Great Journey," spooky moog-like ghosts sigh on "These Golden Jewels" (which turns out to be a saw - pretty damn cool), and a healthy smattering of banjo percolates throughout. Vocal lines serve the lyrics although a verse or chorus will occasionally break the way you want it to, with Brett's baritone voice swelling up to it's quietly restrained promise, particularly on "Beautiful William." I'm quite sure he's tired of the Johnny Cash comparisons but if the shoe (and the range and tone) fit then...well...that's one comparison no one should be tired of wearing. An electric guitar and keyboard make a welcome stylistic appearance on "All The Time In Airports," a must-have song for anyone on the road.

Where this album really excels is its lyrics. "After We Shot the Grizzly" is almost funny with it's verses outlining the continually hopeless perils of the narrator: killing the grizzly, then the horse, then the captain goes crazy and then they end up on a raft getting swallowed by the sea. The constancy of his recounting his journey to (Mary) provides a poignant touchstone, subtly underscoring the strength that the promise of seeing a loved one again can inspire in the face of consistently insurmountable odds. Meandering vocal lines and similar chord progressions can make individual song appreciation difficult but it's this kind of metaphorical beauty in the lyrics that make this album worthwhile; the mythical darkness of "Hunter Green," the reckless youthful abandon of "Flapping Your Broken Wings" and the beauty unearthed in often mundane or ordinary circumstances ("Bowling Alley Bar," "Somewhere Else To Be") are moments worth taking the time to slow down and listen to.

There's something about this no-frills country, neither depressing nor necessarily introspective, and it's simple, old-school style of story-telling. Masterful use of words and phrases - hats off to Rennie - creates images that concur subtle connotations and often eschews rhyme for storytelling. It's far from pop and doesn't cater to a short attention span, which in-and-of-itself, is refreshing and heartening to know that somebody, somewhere, is still doing things this way.