News of the possible demise of Denver goth-folk pioneers 16 Horsepower last year caused ripples of panic among their loyal fanbase. Heavy with a sack of songs ready for the next 16HP album, leader David Eugene Edwards instead buried himself in the studio and used them on this solo scheme, Woven Hand. Now it seems the foursome are not splitting after all and a new LP is due later this year.

All the better for us then, 'cos "Woven Hand" is no second-rate side project. Sure, it doesn't rock with the same intensity of 2000's "Secret South", but its sparseness simply magnifies Edwards' unsettling up-close-and-personal approach. His intense Christian vision (a possible reason for unease among the 16HP camp) is ingrained, the record's first couplet reading: "I am nothing without his ghost within".

Yet, the preacher's grandson doesn't let the message get in the way of a good,spirit-wrenching tune. Layers of guitar, banjo, mandolin and centuries-old droning instruments weave a rich musical cloth that flaps jauntily on the Petty-influenced "Glass Eye" while, a few minutes later, drags in the bloodstained dirt for a near-suicidal version of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine".

"Woven Hand" does little to entice the non-convert, but for those attracted to the dark, Edwards offers a speck of light well worth clutching at.

4 stars (out of 5)