"I have been running music stores for 11 years, so you know that I am very picky. This guy is brilliant. He has incorporated world music with melodic vocals that are just haunting. the images that he portrays in his songs with his obvious religious background in superb. There is nobody out there like this. if you like folk music, dark sounding gospel or just plain world music, this is for you. he uses many different instruments and as stated, his vocals are indescribably good."
An expansive and minor key world of darkness and drama, lost
Aquarius Records | San Francisco | 09/17/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have long been huge a fan of Mr. David Eugene Edwards, formerly of Southern Gothic swamp folk outfit 16 Horsepower, currently performing as Woven Hand, a band that takes the swampy folk of 16HP somewhere even darker, a world of imminent damnation, and dreams of glorious salvation. The music of Woven Hand is a dark and brooding, fire and brimstone, apocalyptic doom folk, with Edwards testifying like his life depended on it. And maybe it does. Edwards makes no bones about being a Christian, and the music of Woven hand plays like the Old Testament come to life.
Damnation and suffering, a cold cruel world, the only hope of life everlasting is to somehow weather the harsh and hellish, to bow down and be lifted up.
And the thing is you don't necessarily have to be religious to be terrified of death and suffering, or eternal torture, and even the staunchest atheist might think twice if offered a chance at eternal life, and eternal happiness. Typically, the word of God, the usual messages from on high, repent or die, do unto others, are hugely heavy handed, granted, they are meant to be as they do concern your eternal life, but when delivered in the context of the Woven Hand, some of us find our agnostic selves chilled to the bone, the fear of God, -some- God anyway, gets us quaking in our boots.
But it's more about the delivery than the message for us, and from a purely musical approach Woven Hand's music is gloriously grim, an expansive and minor key world of darkness and drama, lost souls and true love, simple strummed guitars, dramatic understated strings, fiddles and wheezing accordions, haunting arrangements, bizarre percussion, strange FX and incredibly intense ambience, and of course Edwards' gorgeously affecting croon: dramatic, intense, emotional, but so obviously troubled, conflicted, hopeful too, yet streaked with a dark despair.
So although Woven Hand's chillingly morose gothic twang is perfect on its own, when tangled up with Edwards' moody tales of punishment and salvation, of love and death, it takes on even more emotional weight.
And compared to the first Woven Hand record, Edwards seems to slowly be moving away from the sound of 16 Horespower, the first Woven Hand could have been another 16HP record, but such is the way with records like that, a 'solo' record from the band member who wrote most of the music for the band he just left. But each record has been getting darker, more personal, disturbingly so, but at the same time, more epic, more cinematic, and more and more beautiful."
Brilliant
D | 11/13/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This album is absolutely gorgeous, and some of the best music I've heard in a long time. I also think this is Mr. Edwards' finest album yet. It's not different in style from his past works, just better. For me it's the first complete Woven Hand album, the first one without a single dull track. I've been a fan since 16 Horsepower, and I'm constantly impressed that he continues to deliver great music album after album, but he's outdone himself this time. I highly recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed the music of 16 HP or Woven Hand."
Brilliant
Wesley Johnson | 09/02/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"David Eugene Edwards has had a hand in some of the most intense music of the past few years. Be it in his original group 16 Horsepower or more recently Woven Hand, Edwards has a knack for putting listeners under a captivating emotional trance. The newest Woven Hand album is titled Mosaic and will release in America this month via Sounds Familyre.
Edwards almost sounds like a King David singing psalms over an incredibly Gothic and old fashioned backing. The albums opening 90 second instrumental gives way to Winter Shaker that sets the albums mood with its use of traditional instruments and Edwards tormented wail. Winter Shaker is followed by Swedish Purse which makes use of both a banjo and creepy church organ that intentionally evokes a grave sense of uneasiness. Much like the work of Nick Cave the darkness reflected here is something that you can't turn away from. Stylistically the album is similar to their previous release but instead of evolving its almost as if they devolved sounding highly influenced by medieval times. Touches of the modern age filter in by albums end starting with the organ laced, almost upbeat instrumental Bible And Bird. The album closes out with the bizarre Little Raven/Shun that starts out with slightly over one minute of instrumental music followed by almost a minute of complete silence then Edwards chimes in with an effects drenched voice over a minimalist backing.
David Eugene Edwards is a musical genius. The slight changes he has made here are far from drastic but the album is a worthy purchase. I recommend this release to any fan of Edwards' previous work, Nick Cave or traditional and sacred music.