The individual who thought that 16 Horsepower singer David Eugene Edwards would try another more light-hearted tack with his new quartet Woven Hand came away with a flea in his ear from the Patronaat last Friday.

Edwards' band 16 Horsepower has been (temporarily?) disbanded. The other band members were fed up with being associated more and more with Edwards' religious tinted lyrics and ditto attitude to life. Edwards was raised in a strict conservative religious environment in Denver, Colorado. He professes his own religion in a looser, alternative way then his obstinate grandfather, who was a Methodist preacher, who reared David Eugene. For the grandson the stage is his pulpit.

The songs on the Woven Hand debut-CD with the same name (which, for the present, has only been released in Europe) show that Edwards is still obsessed by the devil. He preaches variations on biblical themes like a fanatical missionary from hell. Ominous, enigmatic, poetical and personal. He has left the bandoneon at home and his new songs are somewhat more subdued and slower, but further the difference with 16 Horsepower (a band that is adored in The Netherlands in particular) is negligible.

That is caused above all things by Edwards' omni-determinant lofty voice, which is distorted of old by an old-fashioned Sennheimer microphone ("an electric razor" as it is popularly called). The beautiful frugal instrumentation is acoustic and gravitates towards wood more than ever before. The drummer juggles softly and flexibly with percussion, drums and a wooden snare drum. Edwards uses his banjo techniques on acoustic guitar and mandola. Cello, harmonium and organ supply his vocal lines in minor key with a sometimes-repetitive Velvet Underground-esque decor. An enthusiastic Patronaat cooperator, with well-chosen words, called Woven Hand "14 Horsepower". 16 Horsepower material fails to appear. Probably because Edwards hasn't figured out yet whether the old line-up will be rehabilitated.

Edwards' voice is powerful and sounds like Edwards went through a great deal, but stays within his familiar range pitch-wise. Because of that the compositions have a uniform atmosphere, which can just as easily lead to trance or monotony. It's easy for everyone to notice that the absolutely beautiful, four hundred-year old folk traditional Young Forest (sic), which the band plays as an encore, is not from Edwards' steady (read: rigid) compositor's hand.

Many a one has become addicted to Edward's melancholic neo-folk mantras, but a bit more melodic versatility will not harm the continuity of his band(s).