The Handsome Family - Last Days of Wonder

When an album is about bowling alley bars, being attacked by wild boars, and Tesla's death ray, it's hard to not like it. When that album is by The Handsome Family, it's nearly impossible.

"Last Days of Wonder" is the newest of numerous solid albums by the family that actually is a family. Wife Rennie Sparks writes the words and plays a few instruments while husband Brett Sparks sings the words and plays the rest. The line up is rounded out by a decent amount of guest musicians playing everything from trombone to saw. The result is The Handsome Family's old country sound with storytelling lyrics and plenty of dark humor, death, and dementia. Brett's voice ranges from a rumble to a warbling wail as threats turn to love songs and hope ends in suicide. The album never quite lets you know whether it is all a deadpan joke or honest desperation, but for those of us that wonder the same thing about our lives, "Last Days of Wonder" is the perfect soundtrack.

Listen to "Tesla's Hotel Room"
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