Pitchfork

On June 13, avant-country duo the Handsome Family are poised to release their new Carrot Top Records album, Last Days of Wonder. It's the seventh record from the husband-and-wife team of Brett and Rennie Sparks. The inspiration for many songs on Last Days of Wonder come from the tragic life of Nicola Tesla, the misunderstood inventor renowned for developing the namesake Tesla coil, devising plans for an Earth-destroying "death ray," and for providing the name for the hair metal band Tesla (if being the inspiration behind that band isn't tragic, we don't know what is).

The Sparks couple recorded the album at home, but thanks to the magic of email, Stephen Dorocke (Freakwater, Jesse Sykes) and David Coulter (Test Dept., The Pogues, Tom Waits) were able to contribute pedal steel and musical saw, respectively. In addition to the guest instrumentation and the Sparks' standard guitar, bass, and drums arrangements, Last Days of Wonder augments the Handsome Family sound with mellotron, ukulele, banjo, bowed wine glasses, and trombone sections, as well.

Last Days of Wonder:

01 Your Great Journey
02 Tesla's Hotel Room
03 These Golden Jewels
04 After We Shot the Grizzly
05 Flapping Your Broken Wings
06 Beautiful Women
07 All the Time in Airports
08 White Lights
09 Bowling Alley Bar
10 Hunter Green
11 Our Blue Sky
12 Somewhere Else to Be

In July, the Handsome Family heads out on the road with Meat Puppet Curt Kirkwood.

It's a family affair:

06-24 Albuquerque, NM - Launch Pad *
07-10 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar #
07-11 Milwaukee, WI - Shank Hall #
07-13 Chicago, IL - Abbey Pub #
07-14 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick #
07-15 Toronto, Ontario - Horseshoe Tavern #
07-18 Boston, MA - TT the Bear's #
07-20 New York, New York - Mercury Lounge #
07-21 Philadelphia, PA - World Café Live #
07-22 Arlington, VA - Iota #
07-23 Charlottesville, NC - Starr Hill Music Hall #
07-24 Carrboro, NC - Local 506 #
07-26 Atlanta, GA - The Earl #

* with Fast Heart Mart, Rivet Gang
# with Curt Kirkwood