Woven Hand. Doornroosje, Nijmegen, 10 February 2003.

David Eugene Edwards sings as if the devil is close upon his heels. His music is called hell-and-damnation folk. 'I just happen to see sad things and they touch me deeply.'

David Eugene Edwards' voice sounds possessed under all circumstances. It is five o'clock in the afternoon and the house lights of the Nijmegen Doornroosje are on. Black walls and fluorescent lighting. As void of atmosphere as possible. Until the man with the flaxen hair and that drab small beard near the microphone hits the first resounding chords, medieval sounds from an electric guitar. He sings as if Satan is close upon his heels. In the lines "These thoughts of You/they are a gift" you feel the divine capital letter. Even a soundcheck on a weekday becomes public worship with this hell-and-damnation folk.

Edwards, singer of 16 Horsepower, is on tour with his solo-project Woven Hand. The first, untitled Woven Hand cd was released last year. The band decided to take a sabbatical year for the first time since their debut in 1994, Edwards says earlier that afternoon, but he simply could not afford that. He has mouths to feed.

That's why he went into the studio with the songs he had on hand. This was 16 Horsepower, but just a shade more desolate, whereas the arrangements seemed fuller than ever at the same time. ''A lot of people thought that a solo album would be me and my guitar. But the ideas just kept on coming. Thoughts of other sounds, experiments. And I decided not to rule out those thoughts, like we did on the latest 16 Horsepower album, Folklore. On Folklore we wanted to sound as stripped as possible, get more from a simple sound. But I'm wild about simple AND sumptuous music.''

The ten tracks on Woven Hand all carry that with them. With Edwards ' customary Old Testament-like lyrics and the influences of Renaissance music and medieval folk he has been admiring for years. "The melody and contents of those songs are so simple, whereas they deal with very profound matters."

In April the recording of yet another new 16 Horsepower album commences and in the meantime the second Woven Hand album has hit the stores. Blush Music is its name and the basis is constituted by music from the dance production Blush by the Flemish company Ultima Vez of choreographer Wim Vandekeybus.

The preacher of pop music and ballet? Not a likely combination at first. ''Usually dance is not something I'm interested in. But Wim was looking for music and when we played Brussels, our common friend Tom Barman of dEUS said that he should go and see us.'' And he liked it. Especially when he heard those lines from the song Story and Picture [sic]: Your fire burns for me/ red as grace/ the blush came easily to your face. Surely that was a hint from God.

''Later he sent me videotapes from all the previous performances. They really grabbed me. They reminded me of how I work: not following a structure or predetermined idea and not being afraid of how people will think it looks. ''

He set to work and enjoyed the remoulding of the songs from the first album, the new songs and especially the longdrawn soundscapes. "I'm crazy about that. To make things that don't last three minutes, but that run in every direction and in which I can use anything I want. For instance, one of the drum tracks on Cripplegate, the first song, is not a drum. I had an old suit-case and I filled it up with junk- tambourines, some metal things - and I hit the top. I was in raptures about that sound."

The theme of the perfomance helped too. Isolation and liberation, with a storyline loosely referring to the Orpheus myth. ''For example, for that scene in the nether world I used a version of Your Russia. I tried to inject a feeling of struggle, a desperate fight.''

There's always that intense despair evident in his music. ''I just happen to see sad things and they touch me deeply. I'm affected by my past too. My father died when I was young, the affect that had on my grandparents, the church I belonged to, where people came because they suffered pain - mentally of physically. All those things. And I see myself as the sinner I am. Everybody is weak and desperate and we all need Christ to redeem us.''

Yes, the C-word has been said. The other 16 Horsepower members don't always like that. Before you know people think that you're a Christian band. ''That label deters people. And that is mainly the fault of those bands themselves. Most of them imitate successful acts from the secular world and add their own lyrics. That is not my cup of tea. I prefer to sit in a pew and listen to a choir or the organ playing on old psalm.''

After the soundcheck Edwards crosses the small car park headed for his tour bus. He stands out strangely against the graffiti-covered walls. But there, somewhere in a corner are words that have to be sprayed on especially for him. 'Pray for the lost.'

If you pray like he does, even we heathens find it magnificent.

Click here for pictures and setlist from this concert.