The Handsome Family

Armed with a guitar, a drum machine, a washboard, a collective personality disorder and an array of curious songs about life, death and pretty much everything in between, Brett and Rennie Sparks charmed the socks off/totally confused (delete where applicable) a full house. A Chicago-based husband and wife unit, The Handsome Family plays country music as if devised by film director Wes Craven (circa The Hills Have Eyes): on-the-edge-of-your-seat tension, heavily ironic allegory and a mutant playfulness that is equal parts compelling and bizarre.

Outside the confines of their albums, however, Brett and Rennie's flaws become somewhat more apparent. On their records (Odessa, Milk And Scissors, Through The Trees, the compilation Down In The Valley and their latest, In The Air), their organic mixture of short stories and sparse, Hicksville country stylings is a profoundly refreshing change from the homogenous pulp we are currently surrounded by. In a live setting, it becomes slightly unstuck through their onstage collective persona of a couple whose bickering is interrupted by the occasional tune.

We leave them just before the encore - and following a song which Rennie sings in a voice that could scare fluffy, pink-tongued kittens. Final verdict? Buy the albums, see them once in a blue moon and you won't go too far wrong.

The Handsome Family plays The Stables, Mullingar, tonight