When Ian Dury was first playing gigs with Kilburn & The High Roads he found himself growing bored with the other bands on the circuit whose songs all sounded the same. He had a rule in his band that if they played something a bit country, they'd then play a calypso or some reggae, just to keep the interest going, to be a bit unpredictable. This has always seemed a good rule to me. | "We learn of her attitude to Travelodges, which one’s her favourite and the high quality of British sandwiches (no, really). " | |
Unfortunately it's not one that tonight's support act, Kurtz, have thought to take notice of. By playing half a dozen miserablist mid-tempo tunes, in a frankly unengaged manner and neglecting all along to make eye-contact with the crowd, they don't strike one as being an inspiration. Their singer also commits the cardinal sin (that is committed, to be fair, by many singers on the scene), that of mumbling between songs – specifically in the phrase, 'This next song's called mmpgmmph'. The Handsome Family, on the other hand, speak clearly for the most part, and take heed of Dury's dictum – which is more impressive than it might otherwise sound when you notice that this band's songs come in two basic varieties: slow ones, and even slower ones. But they manage to keep them all sounding individual by simple tricks, such as taking turns to sing, or both singing at once, or singing different songs in different keys, or having accompaniment from a violin, or a lap steel guitar, or alternating common time songs with waltzes. Oh, and they have a big bunch of good songs to chose from in the first place, it appears, which must also help. At times they seem to be playing songs that poise somewhere between the Leonard Cohen of Various Positions, with its country ballads, and his Ten New Songs with its darker, more stolid, reflections. At other times they trade blows with the Violent Femmes of Country Death Song (from Hallowed Ground), and at one time they even cross the path of Tom Waits in one of his more European, beirkeller, Jacques Brelian moments, with an off-kilter oompa driven waltz. In fact, on the whole, it is their waltzes that are most memorable. There's a long tradition of murder ballads but for some reason they're a whole lot scarier when they're in three/four. The variety of subjects covered by the songs is wider than one might expect too – covering death, love, love & death, airports, death, love and the inventions of Nikolai Tesla. One stand out tune, So Long, takes as its theme the death of little furry animals, pets and plants and whips this up into a singalong ('So long, I'll see you again on the other side') which has all the trappings of challenging Fairport Convention's Meet On The Ledge for sheer end of folk festival singalong annoyingness in years to come. But in a good way. But what makes this band a pleasure to watch is the interplay between husband and wife team, Brett and Rennie Sparks on stage. He is something of a slightly fuddled bear, a little high on over indulgence of honey, sometimes wandering off, sometimes forgetting what's next, while she looks on, with compassion and patience and great warmth. While he organises things she, with a charming naïve look on her face, utters a dear series of non-sequiturs and observations into the microphone. We learn of her attitude to Travelodges, which one's her favourite and the high quality of British sandwiches (no, really). Oh, and her strange power over the little animals of the hedgerows and woodlands. Strangely it sometimes seems to make sense. Rather like the band, and indeed the night. | 
