Friday, June 25, 2010

Wovenhand’s latest…and maybe best

I’ve been a huge fan of David Eugene Edwards’ Wovenhand project since Consider the Birds (when, fun fact, he and Dosh were two artists who came through when we needed an interview in 24 hours at Splendid for the weekly feature). It’s my feeling that he continues to get better with each album, and not just him, but his band which has gotten more emphatic and cohesive over time. (though my favorite Wovenhand song ever is “Dirty Blue” from Mosaic, which figured in any number of mix CDs in the year it was released.) His latest is number 6 in the Wovenhand canon, and this time even Pitchfork has gotten over its secular queasiness…at Blurt, we called it “Album of the Month”. Here’s a bit of my review:

“Oh beat the drum for him, oh holy measure, strum and buzz for Him, is our only treasure," booms David Eugene Edwards in his echo-haunted, arena-scale voice on "Oh Holy Measure." And yes, in this sixth full-length as Wovenhand (following more than a decade with 16 Horsepower), there are plenty of driving drums, an onslaught of raw and stinging open-chorded strumming, an ominous undercurrent of buzz throughout, and, perhaps most important, the palpable, overriding presence of the "Him." One of 2010's most intense and riveting albums, The Threshingfloor (Sounds Familyre) infuses the bone-shaking transport of rock music with spiritual struggle.

The rest


If you get a chance, go see him live. It’s an intense experience. I’m also pretty curious about how his handful of dates with Tool will go…seems like a weird pairing, but whatever. Here he is performing “Raise Her Hands.”

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