The Handsome Family and the beautiful fractured psyche of "Joseph" (Official Video)

 

"smash the windows / lock the doors / cover the mirrors / call the dogs / pull up the floor boards / tap on the walls / look into the eyes / of that old porcelain doll..."

A mere 3 seconds into the sad illusory "Joseph" by western gothic duo The Handsome Family and from their new album "Hollow" out September 8th (2023) and you are falling into the blackness of something mysterious. On top of airy guitar strums and mellowtron lungs Bret Sparks reveals lyrics leaning like a kicked over white picket fence, "smash the windows / lock the doors / cover the mirrors / call the dogs / pull up the floor boards / tap on the walls / look into the eyes / of that old porcelain doll...", something feels wrong but you don't know what. You are leery of peering into the darkness but are enthralled at doing so. 

The Handsome Family, the songwriting / marriage partners of Brett and Rennie Sparks have been peering into that darkness of Americana music for over 30 years. Brett crafts the music and Rennie writes the poetic lyrics sometimes even in her sleep state as Brett explains (about "Joseph"):

“It was a bleak winter during the middle of the pandemic,” says Brett. “One night around 4 a.m. Rennie started screaming in her sleep. She screamed, ‘Come into the circle Joseph! There’s no moon tonight.’ Scary as it was, I thought, man, that’s a good chorus!”

As press notes share:

[Their work has been covered by many artists including Jeff Tweedy, Andrew Bird and most-recently Phoebe Bridgers. Their song “Far From Any Road” was the opening theme for HBO’s True Detective season one and still receives thousands of Shazams every week from all over the world.]

For me "Joseph" does scream out in a pervasive, gentle way. The beautiful melancholy melodies feel homespun, have a gospel church porch quality but in total the sort of bipolar poetry casts out fish hooks that might tear at flesh. There is the sense that me should love thy neighbor but be wary of them too. After all church choirs and cults often times wear the same white robes. The last dissonant notes during the outro might say it all as they feel like splintering truth and psyches breaking. 

-Robb Donker Curtius

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://www.facebook.com/TheHandsomeFamily

https://www.instagram.com/thehandsomefamily/?hl=en

https://soundcloud.com/the-handsome-family

https://twitter.com/handsomefamily

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM4Z0u4xpGVQDR0J6TZ99Jw

https://open.spotify.com/artist/72PnPUc1qv9UjRPaGVZ1jq


Western gothic duo The Handsome Family's new record Hollow (out Sept. 8) began with a scream in the night. “It was a bleak winter during the middle of the pandemic,” says Brett Sparks. “One night around 4 a.m. Rennie started screaming in her sleep. She screamed, ‘Come into the circle Joseph! There’s no moon tonight.’ Scary as it was, I thought, man, that’s a good chorus!”

The Handsome Family, Americana gothic, folk, gardenrock, psychedelia, illusory folk, dreamy, "Joseph" (Official Video), new album "Hollow", Brett and Rennie Sparks,