Perhaps the name Woven Hand is still unknown now, David Eugene Edwards won't be a stranger to many a music-lover. There's good news. For this year two albums will be released by him and his band 16 Horsepower. We have to wait for the new 16 Horsepower album until the autumn, fortunately Woven Hand, the solo-project of 16 Horsepower's captain Edwards, is already out first. As the rest of the band wanted some time off and Edwards was brimming with ideas, Woven Hand was an ideal outlet for him.

You don't have to anticipate a rigorous change of course of the familiar Horsepower-sound, but there really is a difference. Edwards gets into the heart of hearts of his songs even more intensely than in his band, and in doing so he creates an intriguing universe. Most songs are slow and sober in a mostly acoustic setting. Edwards wrote them with his band in mind but recorded them almost completely by himself, with Daniel McMahon as his only aid on pump-organ, mandolin and guitar. In a chilling way he sings about Blue Pale Fever and he renders the epic My Russia and Your Russia.

The remarkable cover of Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine sounds like a dark thunderstorm in this adaptation. Edwards' production, in cooperation with regular 16 Horsepower producer Robert Ferbrache, is crystal-clear and gives the delivery of Edwards' vocals full play. Woven Hand may be considered a side-project, qualitatively speaking it is of the same high standard as we have come to expect of Edwards.

4 stars (out of 5)