The Handsome Family @ the Arches, Glasgow 18 May 2013

Having seen the Handsome Family several times in the past I knew what to expect from this quirky, weird married couple and I mean that in a good way, their music has a kinda 'out where the buses don't go' strangeness about it. A true joy to behold if basic guitar, bass, banjo and limited drums accompanying the kind of lyrics that make you go "what, did they just sing that" is your kind of thing!

So Rennie and Brett Sparks took to the stage along with their drummer, who, because he wasn't introduced, shall remain nameless!

The 'nameless' drummer!

The band shambled onto the stage and took up their respective positions and Rennie laid down her bag, an object that resembled Mary Poppin's bag and later in the gig she was to ransack the bag to produce a torch to help Brett read his music, a la the aforementioned MP! From the start there was wonderful chaos as Rennie dropped one of the set list sheets and was rummaging around in her voluminous accessory when Brett chided her for being unprofessional and not being ready, she was to give as good as she got as the show progressed, indeed this is one of the features of their shows that I like. They don't take it seriously and take the piss out of each other in equal measure, this show was to be no different!

Rennie & Poppinesque bag

Once ready, the band took off through a few of their latest songs from their new album Wilderness which is only just out here and Brett joked that as we wouldn't know the songs we would just have to wait until they played some of their older stuff before we could sing along! However, from the audience reaction the new stuff was already being logged in the memory banks and taking its place in their oeuvre. Each of the tracks on the new album is named after an animal/insect and so we had Flies, Owls, Gulls and Woodpecker to name a few, and of course, in true Rennie fashion, these are not song just about animals, oh no! Woodpecker for example is all about the fascinating true tale of Mary Sweeney, who, in the 1890's, was known as the Wisconsin Window Smasher. The song takes the image of a woodpecker, pecking on trees to find what's inside, the way Mary Sweeney would break windows in her frenzy to discover what was behind the glass. As Rennie Sparks tells it "The gleam of glass whispers secrets that few can hear. Mary Sweeney was one of them. She was also a woodpecker." Fabulous!

We also got a few great songs from the back catalogue including So Much Wine, The Sad Milkman and A Beautiful Thing all garnered from their album of 2000 called In The Air and The Loneliness of Magnets  from 2009's Honey Moon album.

The humour shone trough the show and it bordered on the surreal when Brett, a large man it has to be observed, took over the childlike bass guitar that Reenie had been playing and was told that his doctor had instructed that he had to play it at least once a night!

Brett and the wee bass guitar

Brett's simple, single note guitar style solos aligned with his baritone voice and Rennie's studied bass and banjo playing combine to create an unusual sound which compliments the weird and wonderful lyrics that Rennie serves up, the new songs fit right in there with the bizarre, but fabulous music from their past.

The Handsome Family

There was a moment of genuine hilarity during the final song The Sad Milkman when the 'nameless drummer', who was accompanying the guitar and banjo using brushes rather than drum sticks, hit a strong, sharp, sonorous 'rim shot' and Rennie and Brett were both taken aback and could hardly complete the song for laughing. A joyous, humorous, bounteous night of entertainment came to an end with Rennie leaving stage right, whilst Brett exited stage left with pint in hand, different to the last!

Brett exiting stage left