If father Abraham had settled in the Appalachians and Babylon was in the Mississippi-delta, the laments of the Old Testament may have sounded something like this.

Godfearing, in every meaning of the word, David Eugene Edwards makes folkrock conscious of its sins relentlessly upclose, the atmosphere is awfully loaded and the drama isn´t less than that of Nick Cave, or even Jim Morrison. However, for 16 Horsepower it´s not about kicking down the doors of a forbidden world, in a delirious haze of psychedelic drugs; more likely Edwards is kneeling in the pew in the chapel of a godforgiven small town that neither wants nor dares to forget.

The music is close to the ground, with a noticable smell of wood - probably as much from a freshly made cross as from the wooden instruments that underline the oldtime expression and point out the geographical belonging. Bandoneon, violin, cello, hurdy-gurdy and banjo are just as important and sometimes even as loud as the electric instruments, and they succeed in bringing forward the ghostlike mood just as succesfully as the most twisted guitar-effects, that unfortunately in some tracks leads the music closer to goth than is good for the band.

***½

Do You like this?
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16 Horsepower - Low Estate (1997)
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Translation by Patrik