In the Air

Handsome Family

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 15, 2000)
• Original Release Date: February 18, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Carrot Top Records
• ASIN: B00004RDHK
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #96,491 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #39 in	Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Alternative Folk
  #58 in	Music > Indie Music > Folk > Contemporary Folk

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Chicago's Handsome Family draws its inspiration from traditional murder ballads, but unlike the Carter Family, whose name they pun, Brett and Rennie Sparks do it out of a fascination with the macabre rather than a familiarity with it. In the Air, the couple's fourth album, chronicles a world full of death, snakes, dark highways, and sad milkmen. To the Sparkses (Rennie writes the lyrics; Brett sings them), this world isn't bleak or bizarre, it's beautiful--and vivid. Here a man isn't simply skinny, he's "thin as the bow of his black violin." And here, when William got killed, the murderer lingered and "watched as his blood ran through dead grass / Watched as the black ants crawled through his hands." And somehow, through Brett's sonorous baritone, Rennie's breathy melodica, and guest Andrew Bird's violin, even such violence seems ultimately peaceful. --Anders Smith-Lindall

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beware Ye All Who Enter In, April 19, 2000

By	R.J.Parnell (Scotland) - See all my reviews

'Through The Trees' should have warned us. Branches rustled without a breath of wind: song-birds fell silent and strange black clouds darkened the sun: I felt a chill run through my room but there was nowhere to run that did not suddenly appear touched with melancholy. Still, this could all have been an aberation. Maybe just a fluke coming together of two currents that for the brief duration of 13 unspeakeably beautiful, haunting songs, created something quite unique and terrible. However, 'In the Air'is like waking from the dream to find you are still dreaming. Heavens, the back cover of the CD case should have been sufficient warning to us alone! People, think carefully before buying these new songs. How much do you value your view on the world? How much beauty can you take. I met Rennie Sparks a few weeks ago after their gig in Edinburgh and asked her what happens to Poor Lenore (track 7) after the song. Lenore has been carried to the top of a dead tree (where the heartbroken go) by crows. This really mattered to me. At first Rennie denied knowing the end of the story. Then, picking up the desperate look in my eyes, took hold of my hand and said, 'Well, yes, maybe in the end she does get down from that tree'. This, and a set that had the audience shuddering and laughing in equal measure, left me so blissful that I floated from the theatre. For a few hours, I was fooled. A few hours remembering the tender way she cradled her autoharp, before the stark outline of a leafless tree against the night sky shook me back to the reality of the Handsomes lyrical word. Lenore doesn't make it down from that tree. She's there still; at least her ghost is, waiting to sing its sad lament to any traveller accidentally wandering down that dark, damp path. Her hair whispers in the wind as the snow begins to fall and her mouth, endlessly, fills with blood. The Handsome Family stand utterly alone in the world. Leave behind everything you thought you knew and lie down in the dark rolling sea. When you get to the bottom, they will kiss you to sleep. Thank you Rennie and Brett.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DropDead Gorgeous, February 26, 2000

By	David J DeCastris (Rockford, IL) - See all my reviews

No words describe how beautiful this album plays. Hopeful, sombre, bright, dark, frigid and beautiful, horrifying, vicious, vibrant, velour covered with black tar and sun stained on, whatever. Brett and Rennie Sparks have created the first true lyrical and musical masterpiece of the new century, decade, god, the millenium. Picking up where "Through The Trees" left off, Brett's musical pallete takes on a slightly brighter mood this time around to add mask to Rennie's viciously vivid lyrics. What allow's for postive melancholic balance is Rennie's ability to tell oddly beautiful stories within the words of the song. "The Sad Milkman" may be the first great countrypopfolk song written this side of the new millenium. An alternative earlier version of this Sparks original also appears on Sally Timms recent 1999 Bloodshot gem, "Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments...For Lost Buckaroos." For those seeking something very rewarding in the year 2000, start here. "In the Air" is drop dead gorgeous pop with a touch of everything rooted in traditional country and folk. Mmmm.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars i love this stuff!, April 8, 2000

By	analogzombie "a-z" (the deep south) - See all my reviews

Until 3 weeks ago I had never heard of the Handsome Family. Then I read a review in Magnet and Decided to investigate. When it arrived in the mail i don't know what I was expecting, but WOW! It blew me away! From the first listen I couldn't put it down. i took to work the next day, I work at a music store in a mall. All my co-workers were grooving, even the nu metal fans. its one of those records that you can't help but sing along to. I mean I never thought I could get into genuine country music. Well, I like old stuff like Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Sr., and Willie Nelson. Thats what this is like. Classic country, but with a modern take on the lyrics. It still covers the basics like, I lost my woman (So Much Wine), and I'm hopeless (In the Air), but its just so darn catchy. I used it to drive the customers away at the end of the night so I could close the store. So if you don't have a wide musical palette stay away from this record. If you love mellow stuff, indie stuff or just are adventurous then you'll grow to love this record. i now have all their albums just can't get enough.