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Sticky Fingers, Gothenburg (S), 20 November 2004
 
by PM Jönsson
Early this fall Michael Gira - for several years the front man in Swans - played a solo show at Pusterviksbaren. One voice, guitar, stamping the stage floor. Twisted folk blues from a very serious man. Lyrics about sorrow, guilt and sin. Incantation. Michael Gira uses religious symbols, but rather to heckle God and to connect Christianity with evil and abusive powers. David Eugene Edwards is a deeply religious man. In a recent interview he stated that "basically my job is to tell people that they are hopeless. Hopeless without Christ". Still there are parallels between him and Gira. Their music seems to be about searching ones heart, dwell on the same issues, to go inside yourself. And it uses authoritarian mechanisms similar to the ones used by reverends and preachers. The Christian aspect, the Old Testament spirit of Edward's music, is bound to make an agnostic like myself mildly sceptical. And sure, it's not totally unproblematic! But it works. The musical power is very convincing! Or is it simply that we all are sinners and thus in need of a herald, someone to describe the fragile wavering between darkness and light. His solo show last spring was fantastic, hypnotic, each and every moment hanging in the air. On this tour - backing the new Woven Hand album Consider The Birds - David Eugene Edwards brought along drummer Ordy Garrison. Not so bad since Consider The Birds bears some musical resemblance to Sixteen Horsepower and sometimes this Saturday there was thundering rock when Edwards twisted the neck of his guitar. But other times you forgot all about Garrison, when Edwards sang with beautiful feeling and plucked his banjo. With a Russianesque hat on his head, making him look like a young Max von Syndow, he made maniacal gestures, stroked his cheek and time after time his attention turned upwards, to the higher powers. However, way too long intermissions in between songs and a quite noisy crowd made sure that the devotional atmosphere from the spring show never came alive at Sticky Fingers. And the man from Colorado was not totally focused either, some songs quite vaguely delivered. By far the most popular song of the evening was Sixteen Horsepower's Black Soul Choir. Then it was all too clear that there are indeed only a few artists around who can recycle ancient American music as splendidly as David Eugene Edwards can. 4 (out of 5) Translation by Johan D.
by Espen Hovelsen
For once David Eugene Edwards sets out to tour without stopping by in Norway. This time as Woven Hand, but on stage it's just him accompanied by percussionist Ordy Garrison. No matter what the line-up is, Edwards is a man who always guarantees you have a goose-pimple experience - Saturday night in Gothenburg was no exception. With the fall release of “Consider The Birds”, the second regular album released by David Eugene Edwards' side project Woven Hand, the doomster has once again delivered a piece of genius, filled with pious fire-and-brimstone sermons. DEE's inexhaustible well of dismal Americana doesn't seem to run dry ever. Luckily. The live line-up of Woven Hand this time consists only of Edwards and Ordy Garrison. Garrison on percussion and DEE on guitars - but this time, behold, no banjo! It's replaced with a modern mandolin, but the sound somehow is almost the same. It's crowded at the popular rock club Sticky Fingers in Gothenburg this night. A venue that I think is somewhere in size between the Oslo venues John Dee and Rockefeller. The acoustics though are not quite as good as John Dee/Rockefeller. Also the sound is a little bit too loud on the drums and too low on Edwards, but not by far bad enough to be annoying. In the back of the venue is a huge bar and while the noise from the crowd is something we thankfully have been spared at previous gigs in Oslo, it's certainly quite embarrassing at this Gothenburg show. At nine o'clock the boss David Eugene Edwards walks out on stage and starts off with the super cool “Outlaw Song” from the 16 Horsepower album “Folklore”. One of Garrison's drums malfunctions and there's a little break before “Sparrow Falls” is delivered on acoustic guitar. Beautiful, but I feel early on that the lack of bass and keyboards are quite noticeable. Nevertheless there were also intense moments during the show. For example the rendition of “White Bird” was very powerful. Edwards keeps on delivering plenty of glowing (or shall we say dark) moments during the one-and-a-half-hour long show. Out of the 16 Horsepower repertoire we are first served “Straw Foot”. And later on, as the first encore song, the guys shouting for “Black Soul Choir” all evening have their wish come true - despite the fact that DEE upon the first shouts insisted - "I don't know that one." But quite naturally it was the Woven Hand songs of the set that impressed most. And with the minimalistic line-up the versions performed were bound to be quite different from the originals we known from the albums. For example “Down In Your Forrest” is unrecognisable. As usual Edwards seems to be in a world of his own on stage. He touches his face, stares at the ceiling and reaches out to establish contact with the man up there - and he does his very best to bless the crowd. He is an utterly fascinating phenomenon and goose pimples are inevitable during the strongest moments. Perhaps the most powerful of them all being the last song “Tin Finger”, in which he certainly shows the crowd that he is serious. All in all the impression might not be quite as fantastic as it was when Woven Hand played John Dee in March 2003, then with a full size band line-up. This is only because of the instrumental setting, but a Woven Hand or 16 Horsepower show is quite an experience nevertheless. Only too bad that the Norwegian people were not to experience this, but of course there will be another chance next year. Then the release of a 16 Horsepower double DVD is scheduled and hopefully also a new album. Then Edwards has no choice but to include Norway in the tour dates. Translation by Johan D.     
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