On the instrumental debut Transmission Of All The Good-Byes ('00) 16 Horsepower bass player Pascal Humbert was still on the go solo, on Short Stories drummer Jean-Yves Tola belongs to Lilium too and therefore we can speak of '16 Horsepower without David Eugene Edwards.'

Although that goes wrong again on Whitewashed, because in it Edwards himself urges us 'to come in the smile of Elijah,' because 'he is the lord and healer of the sick.' Yes indeed, there is singing on Short Stories. With ardour and frequently. And not only by Edwards, but also by dEUS steersman Tom Barman, who together with female singer Kal Cahoone (Tarantella), drives Sorry, which is marinated in Joy Division's Decades, to great heights. Or by Daniel McMahon, who we know from Edwards' solo project Woven Hand and who, with Nick Cave's blessing, places songs like Locked In Tight and Sense And Grief in an ominous twilight.

And like that, just like during the average 16HP-mass, more dark, stifling and melancholic things happen on this splendid album, which also contains guest appearances by Czars singer John Grant and the former Morphine duo Dana Colley (sax) and Billy Conway (drums). Don't expect any further great leaps forward or sideward in the métier: the reverend Edwards looks on, sees it's good and lights another candle.