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Handsome Family Values: Bowerbirds

handsomelogo120eFor the Handsome Family, upcoming album Honey Moon—a collection of love songs due April 14—is a startling left turn. The husband/wife duo of Brett and Rennie Sparks still deals in spectral bluegrass and noirish folk forms on its ninth album, but gone are the ghosts and murder ballads that had painted them into a gothic-Americana corner. (Trust us, the album is still plenty weird. Love is weird.) The Handsome Family is guest editing magnetmagazine.com this week. Read our Q&A with Brett and Rennie about Honey Moon and a host of other topics.

bird360Rennie Sparks: Male bowerbirds build elaborate structures made out of anything from stones, berries and feathers to bottle caps, bits of plastic and shards of glass. They construct brightly colored walkways leading into their bowers and strut before them, flapping their wings and singing as the females pass by. Some bowerbirds are also amazing mimics and are able to imitate the sound not only of other birds, but also of waterfalls and human speech. No two bowerbirds do the same dance, sing the same song or build the same enticing bridal suite. I wish I had a house full of bowerbirds pulling things out of my garbage to turn into art. Unfortunately, bowerbirds live in the South Pacific and I’ve only seen them on TV nature shows. My neighbor’s dog, however, ran off with one of my gloves last winter, and I later found the glove under a pine tree along with a used tissue, an empty cigarette pack and a lone sneaker.