“It’s an antique sensibility, modernized and less menacing than the original version, but a strangely pioneering one, too. The full embrace of the individual life, no matter what the period, is always dangerous.” – Alec Wilkinson, The New Yorker
A new photo and video for The Handsome Family’s new deluxe “Wilderness” box set.
The video:
NPR First Listen streams Handsome Family Wilderness
“The Handsome Family’s greatest gift of all lies in its tremendous talent for painting vivid, sometimes terrifying pictures with every word.”
One of our all-time favorite websites, Rookie Mag, posted Rennie Sparks’s short story Weightless about suburban teenage living. Rookie + Rennie forever.
“As is probably the case with most songs inspired by Skymall brochures, Owls is a peculiar song, one that mixes the sweeping beauty of mid-century country music with the bizarre, off-the-wall anecdotes of American tall tales. The Handsome Family treats the tune reverently, though, with Brett’s vocals channeling Johnny Cash one minute and Tom Waits the next.”
Uncut gives Wilderness 8/10, calling the album “terrific.”
Culture heavy-hitter PaperMag premiered a new, non-LP Speck Mountain track called Lies. The track will be available on iTunes later this week. Listen below!
“We’re happy to unveil non-LP b-side Lies, which pulls off the old Velvet Underground trick (perhaps derived from Indian raga) of building tension between a battering-ram bassline and a one-note high-end drone.” - PaperMag
Renowned French culture and fashion magazine Purple premiered the film collaboration of Speck Mountain x Jem Goulding x Gael Foucher. They share a heartbreaking story about collaborator Gael Foucher and the process of how this film came together. Watch the video below. Read the full story here.
“A symbolic song sent to [Jem] Goulding by Speck Mountain…making the project one of fated synchronicity and the unknown.” - Purple
KEXP’s Music That Matters podcast included Speck Mountain track Badwater this week, alongside favorites like Kinski, Bleached, and Marnie Stern. Take a listen! It’s one of our go-to podcasts.