From exile, Grow man
Wovenhand - Self-Titled
Easily the best album of the year, thus far. Every track is strong and there is not a single weak or dull spot on this album. While there is a definite atmosphere and tone that is carried throughout the ten tracks, none of the songs seem to sound the same. There is enough diversity within the unity of the album to create a cohesive story from beginning to the end. “The Good Hand” starts off the album with a quicker pace and we get a gentle hint at some of the darkness to come, but for the most part the album starts on a positive note. From the second track on, we see a slow and gentle descent into a darkness that is buried just beneath the flesh. Loss, desperation, destruction, sin, evil all inhabit the landscape of Wovenhand’s debut album. However, this is not to say that it is a largely futile and depressing listen. There is darkness, but Edwards makes sure the listener knows that the darkness will only last as long as the night before the dawn strips it of its oppression on the land. Songs like “Blue Pail Fever,” the cover of Bill Withers’ classic “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Story and Pictures,” “Arrowhead,” and “Your Russia,” are vibrant with a descriptive truth of the state of the world and of man in the midst of the disorienting midnight.
However, to only view the darkness for what it is and not, ultimately, to the redemption lies just beyond it is to misconstrue and misinterpret the whole album. Description gives us an analysis of the state of things as they are, but it offers no resolve within its parameters. What is offered within the walls of this album is a description and the prescription for the state of things. Yes, it is found beneath layers of, often, mystical language, but the answer presents itself bluntly to anyone who is actually listening to the album, and not just treating it as another Lady Gaga single or something similar.
The transition from 16 Horsepower to Wovenhand is imminently noticeable, but there is a definite shift of concentration and style between these two projects. Elements of Wovenhand have peaked from time to time in 16 Horsepower, but had never been fully realized until now. Edwards just elaborated on the occasional sparseness and atmosphere of 16 Horsepower in Wovenhand. If your type of music involves constantly movement of some sort then this is not the band for you. Wovenhand is here to make us take stock (and sometimes squirm) in the everlasting present. If we are constantly looking to the past or the future then we are never realizing what is standing right in front of our face now. Sometimes living life not in remembrance or anticipation can be a frightening venue, but you can bet that Wovenhand will be there to serenade you.
Apocalyptic Rating: 9 out of 10 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended)
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