HOME

REVIEWS

SoundsXP Presents

Friday 6th April 2012
All Day BBQ Festival

Sparrow and the Workshop
6 Day Riot
The Nuns
Singing Adams
Y Niwl
Colours
Dignan Porch
+more tbc

The Windmill
Brixton
Price tbc

On Our iPod

Golden Grrrls - New Pop 7”

Chris Devotion & The Expectations - Amalgamation & Capital (album)

Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester (album)

Throwing Up - Mother Knows Best 7”

Howling Wolf - Complete Chess Masters 1951-60

The Ketamines - A Rotten Bond/1 Yr (from Oddbox Singles Club Pt 2)

Cardinal - Hymns (album)

Proper Ornaments - Taking the Gamble Out of Buying 12”

Darren Hayman - January Songs (album)

Various: Marshall Teller EP 12”

Latest Forum Posts

Album Review

Wovenhand
The Threshing Floor Glitterhouse Records

Article written by Ged M - Jun 1, 2010

Wovenhand: The Threshing Floor

This wasn’t what I expected; even knowing a little of David Eugene Edwards’ previous band 16 Horsepower, I wasn’t ready for the assembly of gothic rock, experimental noise, native American music and nu-folk to be encountered here. There’s also a darkly religious mix of salvation and damnation in the lyrics, with references to Jesus and judgement (I remember from RE class the one about the stone rejected by the builder) and epithets seemingly taken straight from the Book of Revelation. The advice in ‘Singing Grass’ that “the beast he plays the harp/ he does deceive the heart/ false fires in the minds of men” is like hearing some fire’n’brimstone preacher right out of the Red States (Edwards and band are from Denver, Colorado). It didn't surprise me that previous releases have been on the saintly Sounds Familyre label.

The spiritual language suggests this is devotional music of a particularly heavy and brooding kind – the religion on offer isn’t very consoling. However, it’s not all Old and New Testament slaying and saving. There’s rhythm and ritual in the nu-folk songs (‘Behind Your Breath’ is Espers-style dark folk), and Native American chanting and bhangra beats punctuate the record. Though it might have elements of country and gospel within, the band seem a lot more open to external influences, with an Indian sound particularly striking. It’s not surprising that the final track ‘Denver City’ stands out just by being relatively conventional alt.rock, with shades of the Gun Club, even though it maintains the same darkness. As a record it draws on plenty of sources, and even if the end-of-days mood never lifts it's a fascinating and deeply weird record.

Links:
http://www.wovenhand.com/
http://www.glitterhouse.com
http://www.myspace.com/wovenhand