The Trachtenburgs visited the Fringe in 2004 and 2005, and last year wasn’t quite the same without them around, sporting their thrift store chic. There seems to be no real barrier between the onstage and offstage personalities of Jason, Tina Pina and Rachel Trachtenburg. Laid out for all to see without any fake showiness, the retro clothes are theirs and they openly take breaks while the banter (mainly from dad, Jason) flows freely. The show is as homespun as the ethos behind it. The family members take slides they find at yard sales and second-hand shops and make up songs about them or, as Jason puts it, ‘interpret the lives of the strangers’.

Foreign holiday snaps become ‘European Boys’ and a fast food marketing presentation morphs into a rock opera. This year a mixture of old favourites and new ditties are set against the backdrop of their ‘200 square foot apartment’. The Family begins the show with a stagey ‘sitcom’, set in the room they’ve rented for the month complete with a buzzer-operated laughter track for Papa Trachtenburg’s jokes. It’s a loose setting that is quickly ditched for the most important elements (the songs) and, of course, the endearing shamblings in between.

Here you’ll find dad on guitar and piano, mom on the slide projector and daughter on drums performing classics such as ‘Look at Me’ – a testament to friendship – and the more random ‘Don’t You Know What I Mean?’ alongside new songs such as the quite beautiful ‘All Over the World’. Jason cracks that it’s their number one single of summer 2008. And in a perfect world it would be. (Marissa Burgess)

The Green Room, 220 0885, until 26 Aug, 8pm, £9–£10 (£8–£9).