For most of his career, David Eugene Edwards has been known as a man of the high plains, leading his former outfit, 16 Horsepower, to help define Denver's quasi-legendary Southern Gothic scene. For much of his tenure in Wovenhand -- essentially a solo project for the singer/songwriter -- he was mired in that rut, attempting to dust off the alt-country overtones and escape from his past.

With Mosaic, Edwards succeeds. He's no longer a man of the high plains, or a master of Southern-Gothic revivalist spook. He's a man of mystery, pure and simple. While some of the folksy leanings of his previous work stick around on Mosaic, Wovenhand's third proper studio full-length, the drones, the weird production and the shadows that sprang up on his previous work take control of the ship. He finally packed his bags, cut his ties and left the whiskey-and-sermons cow town he grew up in.

Mosaic is Edwards' most ambitious effort to date, finding him immersing himself in a simmering cauldron of dusky atmospheres, haunting drones and those goose-bump causing winsome vocals. It's a formula for an eccentric and haunting effort. "Twig" is a chilly expanse of droning organs and Edwards' vocals wrapped in a cathederal-like echo to place the lyrics, culled from the "Eternal Creator of the World" hymn into context. The drones in "Winter Shaker" aren't nearly as chilly, and lead into a full-bodied arrangement full of Gregorian chants and hypnotic drums that give it a trancelike quality. "Dirty Blue" finds a bit of twang with a rootsy guitar, though Edwards moves toward vaguely Eastern European folk sounds, conjuring images of a tent revival filled with drunken gypsies, while "Slota Plow" and "Full Armor" play with folksy violin and ominous atmospherics for a sound creepier than anything to come out of Denver's Southern Gothic scene.

Edwards is in full command of his sound, his vision and his direction on Mosaic. Juggling Biblical references and a command of uncommon textures and atmospheres, Wovenhand's latest is either an inspired praise album or a gloriously creepy jaunt through the shadows, depending upon your devotional level. Either way, it's proof that Edwards is once and for all free of his alt-country roots.

3 stars (out of 5)