16 HORSEPOWER
Secret South
"... the objective was to make a f—king brilliant album ..., and of course, they've succeeded" -
New Musical Express, April 2000
Secret South: 16 Horsepower's debut CD release on Razor & Tie, opens the door to the band's 19 century-influenced vision of apocalypse, sin, salvation, damnation and redemption allowing the listeners a glance of souls haunted by the ghosts of a distant American past. The band's music might be described as the missing soundtrack behind the first rifle shot of the Civil War, the assassination of President Lincoln, or Carry Nation's barroom-smashing crusade against demon alcohol.
16 Horsepower (David Eugene Edwards/accordion, guitar, banjo and hurdy-gurdy; Jean-Yves Tola/drums, piano; Stephen Taylor/lead guitar; Pascal Humbert/stand-up bass) have built up a huge fan base in America and Europe since their inception in the early '90's. A combination of traditional and electric instruments with lead singer David Eugene Edwards' passionate, ghostly John Fogerty-meets-Bono tenor, as the whip that urges the band forward, 16 Horsepower takes the listener into the eye of a hurricane just before the sun dares to peek through an angry sky.
David Eugene Edwards and Jean-Yves Tola met in 1992 while working as carpenters at producer Roger Corman's LA. studio. The two young musicians discovered they had much in common, and soon relocated to Denver where they began l6 Horsepower. The band released a self-titled EP on Ricochet. Soon after, they recorded their debut LP, Sackcloth & Ashes for A&M which brought them widespread acclaim.
In 1998, the band released Low Estate, their second album for A&M. It garnered much critical praise and attention both abroad and in the US. Entertainment Weekly extolled the band's intense, caterwauling sound, noting that they "channel the soul of Appalachian goth ... using banjo's and bandonians to conjure ghosts, madness and the usual death match between libido and old-school Christian guilt. "The long awaited follow-up Secret South was released in Europe in April 2000, and will be released in the U.S. by Razor & Tie on September 21, 2000.
The new album is a dense, murky, disturbingly brilliant work, with every song except one played in a minor key. "Clogger", the first song and first single from the album, opens with an angry, urgent bass line rumbling like thunder, followed by a lightning flash of guitars. David Eugene Edwards fires an accusatory sermonesque vocal. "Hey mister with your iron feet/Never waver from your path/you ain't got away with notin' boy/See his hand/Feel his staff." The song gallops along like a covered wagon riding over rough terrain when suddenly the clouds part and the sun breaks through.
"Wayfaring Stranger ", stark and alone, fills the void with a single banjo followed by Edwards' eerie trebly vocal Edwards says,' " Wayfaring Stranger " is a song I've heard since I was little and it means a lot to me. I've heard many different versions of it, and l wanted my own version."
"Poor Mouth" uses acoustic guitar, maracas and heavily reverbed electric guitar to create a dark impression of a haunted man's soul. Edwards sings, "... all my words come back to haunt me ... I will put my trust into the things left standing." Edwards says, "I love the way 'Poor Mouth' makes me feel. It's a very personal song but not one that's selfish".
"Silver Saddle" is my favorite track because of the mood. It's also about my wife, so it's very important to me. It's the first song I ever wrote on the keyboard and it sounds very medieval to me. I also played the fiddle on it, which is something I don't normally do. " "Silver Saddle" is musically unique in that its carnivalesque sound is warped and forbidding, a soundtrack to a circus harassed by angry spirits.
Edwards says, "Most of the stories on the album are from my own family history, things I wouldn't openly talk about but were important for me to sing about. I wrote the lyrics in a roundabout way out of respect for the people involved. Most of these things happened in the south, so we called it Secret South. We recorded in the mountains of Blue River, Colorado; renting out a big log cabin was which was usually used for church retreats. We brought all of our equipment up there and made our album.
This record has a lot more input from Jean-Yves than our other records, which changes the character and adds a lot. We write separately and then come together to put the pieces of the puzzle together."
Jean-Yves Tola says, "We both work on ideas and change things as needed, and the end result is music that contains both our input. There's no ego involved. If I don't like what he does, I tell him and vice-versa. We're both pretty impatient but we also work fast. We don't dwell over ideas. If we think something is good we keep pursuing it. I don't have a favorite track on the album. I like them all for different reasons at different times."
In describing his main influences, Edwards says, "I listen to a lot of traditional music ...Appalachian,Hungarian and Mongolian. At the same time I listen to a lot of heavy music, like Einstürzende Neubauten, a German industrial band. Also, a lot of Dylan, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds and another band called Crime and The City Solution."
"David is amazing", says Tola. "He's a well of ideas. Amazing timing, amazing ear, very creative but also very humble."
16 Horsepower's music is not for trend-chasers or the terminally hip, but rather for music lovers who seek passion coupled with a hint of menace. "It's for people who are desperate, in a way," says Edwards. "I think our music has a desperation to it. It's urgent desperation.
16 Horsepower will support Secret South with a national tour which will kick off in fall 2000.
Street date: September 12
