The Handsome Family seems to have a fascination with the dark side of life. Sickness, death, discomfort and loneliness, for the Texas couple, have been the themes that have dominated their music since the mid-1990s. Also on Wilderness they stick to their familiar depressing content. This time nature with twelve animals is central. Those animals have also been immediately bombarded to titles of the
… twelve songs in total. Wilderness has become a fascinating record, despite the fact that Brett and Rennie Sparks perform a trick that they have performed many times before. Highlights are the modestly poetic Eels, the strikingly cheerful Octopus and the dark Glow Worm. Of the ten albums the duo released so far, Wilderness is by far the most accessible. For anyone who is not familiar with the heavier work of The Handsome Family, this is an ideal album to get to know this remarkable duo. (BvdV)more
