16 HORSEPOWER
"From abject despair to fear and trembling, to a hope not known of this world. 16 Horsepower takes us from Sackcloth 'n' Ashes to a Low Estate into their own Secret South. Symbolically harsh and forbiddingm the lyrics tell a fragile story of the bankrupt condition of man's immortal soul and the undeserved mercy of his creator. The listener will be taken down a road not soon forgotten." Carol Anderson (David Eugene Edwards' Mutter)

A pair of yellow-flecked eyes shines gloomily from the reeky Secret South swamps. From afar, a driving rhythm worships a power that is not of this world. The search for civilization here seem to be in vain, it only leads further to a fascinating undergrowth full of desolate and feverous visions. In such places the struggle between Good and Evil could stage its showdown...

"16 Horsepower are a lot of things. They are Appalachian white trash, hillbilly folk blues. They are reels and polkas and tangos and Mongolian throat singers and Bulgarian church choirs, and they are feedback and guitar stomp and rock and roll. [..] They are like Cormac McCarthy if McCarthy wrote opera and not bloody, languid border sagas; and then again, they are a little like a bloody, languid border saga."

16 Horsepower draft an eerie scenario. While mankind races into the new millennium, it seems as if 16 Horsepower is galloping in the opposite direction at full speed. Their music is dark, magical and mysterious. And in the primordial meaning of the word "old-fashioned". Their instrumentation is as unusual as it is true to tradition and conjures up an American musical history that couldn't be further from today's glossy culture. The anthology of American folk music revisited.

16 Horsepower is not a pop band. They will never be a pop band. Nobody will ever play a 16 Horsepower song at a family occasion. They are a quartet - two Americans and two Frenchmen, and they play instruments of the past. David Eugene Edwards, the backbone of the band, sings, writes and plays the accordion, mandolin, banjo, hurdy-gurdy and a batch of weather-beaten guitars that bring back ancient, long-forgotten tones. Jean-Yves Tola plays drums and piano. Pascal Humbert: bass and double-bass. A short while ago, Steve Taylor, who plays lead guitar and keyboards, joined up. If you ask them to describe their music, you earn a unanimous shaking of the head. This music is not made to be pigeon-holed.

David Eugene Edwards - although he grew up as a child teaching himself the violin, piano, drums and guitar - only founded 16 Horsepower in 1992, so he could be the front person of a band. Before that, he had played the low-profile acoustic-guitar-and-backing-vocals-role in a roots-punk-band from Denver called (surprise!) Denver Gentlemen. In 1990 the Gentlemen moved from Denver to Los Angeles, however they split up shortly afterwards. At some of their last few shows, Edwards met Jean-Yves Tola, who had recently emigrated from France with his band, Passion Fodder. They discovered similar musical preferences and Edwards could also make Tola enthusiastic about Cajun and hillbilly music from the early 1920's. When Edwards returned to Denver in 1992 he was followed by Tola a short time thereafter. Together, with Edwards' old pal Keven Soll on bass, they founded 16 Horsepower and in 1995 released their independently-produced debut EP "Haw" and in the same year they made their entrance into the music industry with the album "Sackcloth 'n' Ashes".

In 1997, after a time of insecurity concerning the line-up, "Low Estate", their second album, which was produced by John Parish (P.J. Harvey, among others), followed. By this time, they had built up a large and loyal fan base, especially in Europe, who was overjoyed when last year 16 Horsepower completed a European publishing deal with Glitterhouse Records after the sale of their parent-label, A&M. Now "Secret South", the first child of this fruitful union, has been delivered.

With their "gothic country" 16 Horsepower find themselves very near the soul of American folk. On the tangent plane between reality and vision, between madness and redemption. In addition, benchmarks in recent music history are quite possible to determine. They include the Gun Club´s manic blues-escapades together with Nick Cave-like poetry, full of sinister fascination. Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen demarcate the bandwidth of 16 Horsepower´s story telling - furious and real, melancholic and cynical, mucky and massive.

"I am trying to bring the truth. Whether it be truth the audience likes or dislikes, it doesn't matter; it has an effect. The truth always does." (David Eugene Edwards)

The truth. Which also manifests itself, more than ever, on "Secret South". Goodness gracious! What an impressive device they have given us - everything that has made 16 Horsepower many a man's favourite band for years. And more. The singing: enraptured and frenetic as always, but all of a sudden there are nuances, that weren't there before. Nuances that add bursts of proud clarity to the ubiquitous mania. Also new is that the arrangements are no longer limited to the oh so typical skeleton riding through a fen, but that many a time they unclose themselves opulently and exaltedly, and next they spread ascetic scantiness. Beaming, rattling and warbling hymns, it's bliss. Their most multi-faceted work hitherto, it is able to change your life. And rock stadiums.

16 Horsepower reach for the heart and the intellect, to sell you both levels as a truth serum. Fittingly for an itinerant preacher, a visit from them makes you want more, like an addict. Addicted to 16 Horsepower's truth - through madness or redemption.

By Bahnhof-langendreer