The Handsome Family
plus Tiny Ruins
Friday 25th May
Bullingdon Arms, 162 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Doors 7.30 pm
Tickets £12.00 in advance, £14.00 on the door
plus Tiny Ruins
Friday 25th May
Bullingdon Arms, 162 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Doors 7.30 pm
Tickets £12.00 in advance, £14.00 on the door
Buy tickets . . .
In association with Coda
The Handsome Family write songs that are full of an awed sense of emotion in the face of nature's mysterious beauty. Taking place under bowed branches and deep within winding corn mazes, The Handsome Family's 2009 release, "Honey Moon" is an album of transcendence, of touching the divine, if only for a moment, through our love of someone else, even if it's a praying mantis or a sleeping bird. Their music holds echoes of Americana in the truest sense— from medieval ballad to Appalachian holler to Tin Pan Alley and punk rock.
More recently (2010) the band has released "Scattered" a collection of lost demos and orphaned songs and odd covers that includes material culled from their entire 15 year career. The twosome's seventh CD, "Last Days of Wonder" (June 2006), was one of Mojo's Top Ten American Albums for 2006 and was called "an unqualified triumph" by Uncut. Their fourth album, "In the Air" was listed as one of the most important records of the first decade of the 21st century by Uncut. In 2004, a reader's poll in Mojo named The Handsome Family's third CD, "Through the Trees" one of the ten essential Americana records. UK national newspaper, "The Guardian" listed their song "Weightless Again" as one of the 100 best songs about Heartbreak.
Their songs have been covered by many artists, most notably: Andrew Bird, Christy Moore, Jeff Tweedy and Cerys Matthews. They have appeared in the movie, I’m Your Man (2005), a tribute to Leonard Cohen as well as Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (2004). The Handsome Family record all their songs in a converted garage studio at the back of their house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
A recent live review (by Mike Ritchie) noted, "There’s a lot of smiling at this gig, on and off stage. That might surprise many people who have only read about the duo’s penchant for songs riddled with darkness, death and the macabre. But Rennie Sparks and her husband, Brett are funny live...through their chit-chat, the song introductions and the banter with the audience...this sell-out show was a knockabout celebration of the deadpan, a real joy... Rennie’s words plus Brett’s music and strong, mellow vocals create a magical potion of grim fairytales in a rock and blues pot with grinning unavoidable.”
More recently (2010) the band has released "Scattered" a collection of lost demos and orphaned songs and odd covers that includes material culled from their entire 15 year career. The twosome's seventh CD, "Last Days of Wonder" (June 2006), was one of Mojo's Top Ten American Albums for 2006 and was called "an unqualified triumph" by Uncut. Their fourth album, "In the Air" was listed as one of the most important records of the first decade of the 21st century by Uncut. In 2004, a reader's poll in Mojo named The Handsome Family's third CD, "Through the Trees" one of the ten essential Americana records. UK national newspaper, "The Guardian" listed their song "Weightless Again" as one of the 100 best songs about Heartbreak.
Their songs have been covered by many artists, most notably: Andrew Bird, Christy Moore, Jeff Tweedy and Cerys Matthews. They have appeared in the movie, I’m Your Man (2005), a tribute to Leonard Cohen as well as Searching for the Wrong-
A recent live review (by Mike Ritchie) noted, "There’s a lot of smiling at this gig, on and off stage. That might surprise many people who have only read about the duo’s penchant for songs riddled with darkness, death and the macabre. But Rennie Sparks and her husband, Brett are funny live...through their chit-
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Tiny Ruins is the project of Bristol-born, New Zealand-raised musician and songwriter Hollie Fullbrook. It grew out of writing the music for fringe theatre productions whilst a student in Wellington, recording by four-track and playing at live music and poetry nights in 2007-2009. Tiny Ruins’ live shows began to attract attention and praise for soul-stirring, intimate performances and strange, hypnotic songs. Asked to support Alasdair Roberts in Sydney, May 2010, Tiny Ruins was then signed to Australia’s Spunk Records.
The first Tiny Ruins album, Some Were Meant For Sea, was recorded in Australia by J Walker (CW Stoneking, Holly Throsby, Machine Translations). Fullbrook and Walker added piano, cello, violin, accordion, bells and percussion to the live guitar and vocal takes. The album was released in New Zealand and Australia in May and July of 2011 respectively. Said the New Zealand Herald, “From time to time an album comes along that stops you in your tracks and demands you to listen. Tiny Ruins’ Some Were Meant For Sea is one such record”.
The album saw a UK release in December of 2011, after being championed by BBC 6 and BBC 2. It was hailed by BBC World Service programme The Strand as one of the top five albums of 2011.
The first Tiny Ruins album, Some Were Meant For Sea, was recorded in Australia by J Walker (CW Stoneking, Holly Throsby, Machine Translations). Fullbrook and Walker added piano, cello, violin, accordion, bells and percussion to the live guitar and vocal takes. The album was released in New Zealand and Australia in May and July of 2011 respectively. Said the New Zealand Herald, “From time to time an album comes along that stops you in your tracks and demands you to listen. Tiny Ruins’ Some Were Meant For Sea is one such record”.
The album saw a UK release in December of 2011, after being championed by BBC 6 and BBC 2. It was hailed by BBC World Service programme The Strand as one of the top five albums of 2011.