Writing back in June, we described how Hollow, the forthcoming album from husband-and-wife duo The Handsome Family (aka Brett and Rennie Sparks) on Loose Music, originated with a potentially supernatural experience shared by the Sparks couple. “One night around 4 a.m. Rennie started screaming in her sleep,” explained Brett. “She screamed, ‘Come into the circle Joseph! There’s no moon tonight.’ Scary as it was, I thought, man, that’s a good chorus!” Lead single ‘Joseph’ took on this moment directly, a folk song of ominous foreboding which nevertheless contained real heart too. What emerged was “something nostalgic, a sense of longing,” as we described, “as though within the portents and omens lies the promise of something almost romantic.” How else to describe a haunting so intimate?
If the lead single held up a personal experience for us to see, latest track ‘Skunks’ welcomes the audience themselves into this eerie world. A kind fictitious pest control advert which warps into something stranger, moving from squirrels and skunks and centipedes to a whole host of other services. “We’ll sterilize your yards / Run your cats around the park / Now try our rental cars / Stop by our sandwich bar,” as Sparks sings in one of the verses. “Call us anytime at night / Call us day or night.” This final offer captures the track’s weird tension, rich with the southern gothic sensibilities for which the band have become known, playing as something between an invite and warning to those on the outside.
Hollow is out on the 8th September via Loose Music.
