The Handsome Family

Unseen (Loose Music)

As mysterious as ever, The Handsome Family have emerged out of their New Mexico hideaway with their latest offering, the moody Unseen. The husband and wife duo are probably best known for their song Far From Any Road. Unsurprisingly, Unseen doesn’t change a winning formula. The album’s 10 songs focus on the gloomy side of life. Brett Sparks’ sonorous baritone booms along, adding weight to tales of woe and despair, lost love and melancholic echoes of the past. The lovely The Red Door evokes old seaman’s tales, Tiny Tina, glances back at more modern scenarios, but make it seem like a million years ago. An evening with The Handsome Family is never going to be a dance party riot, although there are times on Unseen you wish they’d kick it up a bit. – Jack Barlow