Ten Stones
David Eugene Edwards — the man behind 16 Horsepower and, since 2002, Woven Hand — matches the voice of an Old Testament prophet with the soul of a Gothic poet. His harrowing accounts of torment and redemption are not for the spiritually faint of heart. That said, *Ten Stones* may well be his most accomplished and accessible effort to date. Woven Head’s heavily textured sound is akin to a blacksmith’s shop caught up a cyclone – string instruments and assorted drums clang, scrape and groan in controlled cacophony. Tracks like “Iron Feather,” “White Knuckle Grip,” and “Horsetail” are forbidding yet hypnotic, implying more than even Edwards’ visionary lyrics can convey. As a vocalist, Edwards treads terrain similar to Nick Cave or even Jim Morrison, howling at demonic forces and pleading for grace in a deep, dusky tenor. He reaches near-hysterical heights on “Kicking Bird” and “Kingdom of Ice,” yet is also capable turning Carlos Jobim’s “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars” into an interlude of eerie serenity. Woven Hand’s take on Christian folk-rock continues to be dark enough to scare off many listeners. But for those with ears to hear, *Ten Stones* speaks with a scary sort of eloquence.
David Eugene Edward's Woven Hand has been on an increasingly rock trajectory lately.