Behind 16 Horsepower, you can actually find one man's insight, David Eugene Edwards (DEE). Is this solo album, Woven Hand, another way to bring out a mind steeped in religious connotations, then? In other words, is it a continuous progression on this existential pilgrimage?

Did you find it necessary to record a solo album?
DEE: The band and myself took a year off, but actually, I've always had the same way of working. I had to earn a living and feed my family, so I had to keep working. I couldn't afford not to do it ; moreover, most of the material was ready then. So I went to Denver and recorded it myself, since I was the only one who could do it, and I played the bass and the drums parts. It was a good personal opportunity to do something different for myself as well as for 16 Horsepower.

This title, Woven Hand, somehow evokes liturgy, insofar as hands can at the same time help, unite or heal...
DEE: Yes, exactly. It can also represent lovers holding hands, or an adult and a child, all the situations this symbol can suggest.

Lyrically, did such a solo approach enable you to feel more free?
DEE : No. My voice has remained the same and I was never kept in check with 16 Horsepower. So there's absolutely no discrepancy between Woven Hand and the rest.

Sound-wise, the orchestration sounds much more austere and acoustic, is it the result of the circumstances in which you recorded the album?
DEE: I had certain ideas about the way I wanted the album to sound. All that I wanted beforehand hasn't necessarily been carried out, but it's always been like that with me anyway. There are always elements you can't keep under control. I wanted a sound closer to wood than to metal. It's something we've already approached, lightly, with 16 Horsepower; and it's, I think, the way we'll evolve, especially on our new album, to be released soon. So Woven Hand sounds much more acoustic, still as intense hopefully, but with softer, less sharp tonalities. By the way that's why I don't use metal guitar strings, but strings made of gut. It's rather easy to set up in a studio, yet it's a different story on the road, because it's more difficult to get the right volume. So I have to make a few compromises sound-wise. Yet I've tried to remain as close to the texture of the instruments as possible, rather than attempt to alter it.

Did you try to underline the intensity that you proclaim, through your vocal phrasing, even more declamatory than ever?
DEE: I don't start off with the intention of preaching, but I have to admit that it's the way it turns out. I think that my lyrics lead me to assume this tone and determine the way I'll sing.

Isn't there a common theme linking all your lyrics? On Arrowhead, you use the image of the «pilgrims' progress», that sounds straight out of Bunyan's book and evokes a genuine spiritual pilgrimage.
DEE: Yes, I used that reference which also refers to myself. For all that, this album is not more personal than those I've made with 16 Horsepower, but it's more turned towards my wife and children; that's also the reason why, I think, the atmosphere of the music is softer. I think you can very well listen to the record and find entertainment, while some of 16 Horsepower's stuff is more difficult to listen to in a relaxed way.

For all that, your lyrics haven't given up their biting aspect, and especially the fact that you use an imagery which, even though it's not quite literal, comes from the Old Testament. Consequently, it is quite incisive...
DEE: Indeed, it doesn't suggest a feeling of serenity, but it's something I've always done. I often find today's language too limited, poor and even stupid. It's difficult to express what you mean and use something so mundane. I believe that using a more ancient vocabulary enhances the meaning of your lyrics. Of course, you have to spend more time thinking about them, but isn't it a reward in itself?

Are you generally concerned with the 2 risks inherent in that kind of lyrics, sounding either too much of a lecturer or too cryptic?
DEE: Yes, I feel sometimes concerned with that, precisely because I don't want to sound too obscure, or as if I was admonishing people. Using symbolism or metaphors to illustrate music is natural to me, because it's something you do when you write poetry.

On My Russia, you wonder «have I shown them compassion», and on Blue Pail Fever, you speak of a «frozen prayer». Does it mean that you haven't always shown mercy?
DEE: Exactly, yes! It's a kind of confession, maybe a cleansing. However, that confession isn't addressed to God, but rather to my relatives and friends. I believe that God is omniscient and consequently He doesn't need us to confess anything to him. He has already decided to forgive us or not. When I address people, I'm only saying that we're all the same, we all behave similarly and we all need the same help. We should all be concerned with spirituality instead of focusing on certain things that aren't worth it.

There's more than a mere affinity between yourself and Nick Cave, then?
DEE: There's no way you could convince me of the contrary. His impact on me is huge, whether in the way I deal with the world or in the way I consider music and listen to it.

In one of your songs, you say «you don't know your own heart». Does it mean we keep looking for a Revelation?
DEE: I address somebody else when I say so. I'm telling him, her or them that they don't know how to accept someone's love and that they're consequently unable to give some.

And when you say you're «quite at ease with my deep self», you express the same idea...
DEE: Absolutely. Something that you sing and that is meant for somebody else is bound to be reflected on yourself. When you say something to someone, basically you say it to yourself.

On that album, how did you come across the themes of the songs?
DEE: Rather oddly, music comes to me first, most of the time. At the same time, I'm always writing lyrics. As the process is constant, I can't say that one takes over the other. I never sit in front of a table to write a song. A word or a sentence comes to my mind, and I gather them, like a jigsaw puzzle that must fit the music. The result depends on the way sentences blend at random, thus, at first, I can't make any sense of them and later, only, after playing the song a couple of times, it takes on its whole meaning. Sometimes, it can take several months, since it is a gathering of quite different elements.

Would you say that the album can be listened to and interpreted as if there was a plot, with a beginning, a development and an end?
DEE: No, it's not as thorough as I wanted it on this level.

At one stage, you say you're «on a mission» and in the last track, you seem to ascertain the fact that cruelty is inherent in nature.
DEE: Yes, throughout that pilgrimage, I was in quest of transcendency, yet I'm still a man.

Are you implying that it was in vain?
DEE: No, it would be in vain if I was trying to do it by myself, because I'm a human being and I can't amend myself. People are what they are and even if they pretend they can improve, it's not true. I think that people manage to get on only because a material interest governs their relationships. If I didn't make money, would I be here playing music? People are sociable because they'll get something in exchange. At the end of the day, it is not our behaviour that makes us appear good to God. What He did makes us good. For us, it is Jesus Christ's death. I can't do it, because I'm a Man, and I'm not achieved. So, at the end of the album, this equation with nature simply reveals that being a Man is to act according to what naturally comes to your mind. And generally, it's not the most exemplary thing to do...

Consequently, Human Nature and Natural Nature are both imperfect, according to you?
DEE: Absolutely!

Yet, don't our choices guarantee our free will, the fact that we evolve and that we're looking for redemption and forgiveness?
DEE: Yes, but within a certain context. People use the word free will in too casual a way for me. For instance, you go to the florist's and say you want to buy a bike. You're perfectly free to do so even though you know you won't be satisfied. So you're using your free will in a totally arbitrary way. Your choices will necessarily be limited. You can't chose between pleasing yourself and trying to please the people around you, thus honouring God rather than yourself. Man can't do it without the intervention of God, consequently, he doesn't have free will.

What about non-believers?
DEE: An atheist is no lost soul. I can't answer, because everything lies between God and this person. Nobody knows what will happen to an atheist on his death bed. How would you know what will be on his mind and what Grace he'll get from God?...

Aren't you afraid, in spite of your music, that religion becomes too important in everyday life in the USA, especially in politics?
DEE: It's difficult to answer that question. It's obvious in the USA that the Church sometimes does completely stupid things. It's not even a matter of belief, because both Catholics and Protestants are concerned. People are fallible, aren't they? I think that everyone must listen to his own conscience and try to find out what he thinks is the Voice of God in front of one situation or another. That shouldn't determine political actions, but individual actions. Apart from that, I believe that Christianity doesn't have anything to do with politics.

In Story and Pictures, there's the sentence «shook out my salvation», yet unlike the other tracks, this song sounds like a hymn!
DEE: I listened to a lot of music from the Middle Ages as well as from the Renaissance. It influenced this song's atmosphere as well as Arrowhead's. They both sound somewhat medieval.

So you were saying that this album was mostly addressed to your family. At the same time, your lyrics could very well be interpreted like a religious, spiritual invocation.
DEE: Quite so, yes. I can't dissociate Love for a woman and my Love for God. So I don't try to be ambiguous, because there's just no difference for me. I believe in spirituality, consequently I can only deal with Love, including a more profane love, in this way. I would even say that I love my wife because I love God, and God wanted me to do so.

And the only love song in itself is a cover, Ain't no Sunshine...
DEE: I know where you're getting at (laughing). I'm not embarrassed to write a love song, that song just happens to be one of my wife and daughter's favourite. Bill Withers' version is very light and cheerful...

While yours is rather dissonant and dark...
DEE: Don't you think it's more logical when you're talking about someone who's gone (laughing)? I wanted to go as far as possible, sound-wise, to evoke the missing loved one. I wanted an extreme atmosphere for an extreme feeling...

You refer a lot to hands and eyes, and most of the time the latter are imperfect since they're made of wood or glass.
DEE: Sometimes you have those idols, those statues of Mary, for instance, that are made of wood or any other material. Those wooden or glass eyes can't see you. At the same time, those objects are important because they materialize God's presence around us. And eyes also represent conscience, and in the Bible we are told to look within ours before criticizing the others'. Eventually, those glass eyes are just an image of eyes as the mirror of the soul.

Those eyes that can't see you may also represent God's indifference towards human beings...
DEE: No I don't think so. Even if God in the Old Testament is vengeful, I've never thought God was indifferent. I don't think that God has forsaken us, I think we have.

How do you think you'll find redemption then?
DEE: Well we can't, precisely! Only an act from God can truly redeem us. I believe that Christ suffered for us and that when we try not to take into account the fact that He died for us and when we try to make amends for our sins, we are but led astray. When God is watching you, he doesn't see you but Christ.

How do you live guilt then?
DEE: But guilt doesn't come from God!... You can be willing to be humble and repentant when you realize you're a sinner and there's nothing you can do about it and your efforts will never help. That's the way God wants us to be, He wants to break us so that we know we need Him.

Do you think He wants you, or men, to fall?
DEE: No, but He's there with you when you do. He could have made us perfect, robot-like, but He chose to create us differently. True love is being able to choose.

Within this limit to free will defined by the belief in the Original Sin...
DEE: You've understood it all (laughing)!...

Translation by Magali.