Customer Reviews

Consider the Birds

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Someone compared Woven Hand's last album to a walk in a dark,creepy forest. It was dense, eerie, and things just sort of appeared here and there. Well, if that's the case, then Consider the Birds is like reaching the end of the woods and realizing everything is still dark and scary as hell. It's not as dense or epic as Blush Music, but it brings a new energy. Edwards wails like his soul depends on it. The guitars wind and weave, the drums make sure you won't fall asleep anytime soon, and the lyrics are as stark and confrontational as you'll find anywhere. Amen, Brother Edwards, Amen.

I recently picked up this record because it was recommended to me by a friend whose taste I trust. I wasn't a fan, never heard of David whats-his-name or 16 Horsepower before, but I am now. Consider the Birds is one of the most unique records I've heard all year. The strange and dark songs are reminicent of Dead Can Dance and Leonard Cohen but with a bizarre Christian poetic vision and a bluegrass gospel-gothic twist. I'm not sure what David Eugene Edwards is on about half the time other than he loves (or fears) Jesus/god. This is more visionary poetry put to music than cojent wordplay or religious dogma. He doesn't seem to have an agenda other than to create a powerful emotional response in the listener. I am not a Christian by any stretch of the imagination and usually find religious lyrics to be either uninteresting or offensive such as most (not all) Christian music or laughable, such as the satanic pretentions of black metal (love the music though). But this album's poetry is truly and darkly beautiful, mysterious and powerfully moving. God's love might not be available but his judgement sure is inevitable. David Eugene Edward's god is the old testament one of fire and damnation: its God's way or the highway. And what God wants is a bit misterious and unfathomable to us mere humans, at least to this listener. The music is emotionally complex (there's some chills down the spine stuff here), melodic, and I'm gonna get some more. "The world will bow, the knees will be broken for those who don't know how."

If Woven Hand's first album was the sun, then Consider the Birds would be the moon, and a gorgeous moon at that. Edward's seminal effort with Woven Hand was very European sounding and rather high spirited. This album, on the other hand, is exquisitely dark. It's almost reminiscent of 16 Horsepower's last album, Folklore. Still, it's like no music I've ever heard. Each song is a dark little treasure. Edward's lyrics are deeply profound, as always, and bluntly religious; he no longer beats around the bush. The man paints pictures with his music; he is a lyrical genius. Some of the highlights of the album are To Make a Ring: very eastern sounding and cultishly creepy, Down in Yon Forest: the most upbeat, Edward's always does traditional songs extremely well, and Into the Piano: akin to Edward's swan song, Story and Pictures, the desperate melancholy of this song makes you almost want to cry, it's just so beautiful. Enjoy.

Oh my oh my... Even as a big Sixteen Horsepower fan, I wasn't too fond of the first two Woven Hand releases. They were good enough... but part of 16HP's appeal was the fire and brimstone of the music... something Woven Hand lacked. That didn't prevent me, being the 16HP completist that I am, from hunting this cd down on the release date. I was gleefully surprised when I found a local store that carried it.

The cd is simply outstanding. It's on par with, if not better than, much of the best 16HP. It's got the edge and the ferocity... while still incorporating some of the interesting creative elements that marks the Woven Hand material.

There is a big emphasis on piano this time, which continues David Eugene Edwards down the gothic americana path while still driving in the big, textured sonic tour de force akin to "Clogger" from the album "Secret South."

Definately recommended for all Sixteen Horsepower/Woven Hand fans.

I'm usually pretty sure it's the 21st, but every autumn and winter when the cold air and short days come, the Woven Hand discs have to come off the rack. And once David Edwards starts weaving his compelling web of sound, it's 1876 all over again. If the recording technology (plus the electric bass & keyboards) had existed back then, I'd have no trouble believing that he had really lived in some 19th-century western frontier outpost and these tapes had just been lying in someone's attic until being discovered in 2004, probably fallen behind a dusty wooden whiskey crate.

It's not really fair to compare with his former outfit Sixteen Horsepower, since Woven Hand is a whole different animal. Instead of that burning rockabilly stomp, he goes for an introspective gothic low-key sound on his own (all the better to explore those dark corners of the soul). His religious faith informs this music more than ever, making it almost sound like it could have come from a solemn (and intense) church service. Not the tent-revival kind where people sing and dance themselves into a frenzy, but the kind that puts the fear of the lord into you with a hefty dose of hellfire and brimstone. If it makes you want to sleep with a lantern lit, so much the better. (And really, any associations you may have with the word 'religious' do this disc a disservice. The words are excellent poetry, and their pure sincerity transcends the subject matter entirely.)

It's easy to describe the sound by just talking about the instrumentation (banjo, upright bass, bells, gothic atmospheric keys, bluegrass-y miscellany), but that can't convey how unclassifiable the whole thing is, not to mention what a deeply affecting experience it is to hear. It's easy to talk in vague descriptions (stark, brooding, rustic, country-goth-folk), but that can't convey how dark and exquisitely gorgeous it is. This music is an entity all its own, full of horses and iron, trees, fog and unsettled ghosts. Friends sometimes complain that it's too weird or depressing, but when that mood hits I just CAN NOT STOP. No matter. If you really *get* it, I'm sure you won't either.

I hate country music and most Christian music as well. This album not only makes both ok but speaks at the deepest of levels. Edwards has one of the best voices I've heard in ages. And the music sounds of the deepest woods in the Deep South, with powerful and heartfelt lyrics. I grew up for 4 years in the Deep South and have a Southern Baptist background. Maybe somewhere in my subconscious I'd been looking for an album that tells how my heart feels, I found it here. I find Current 93 to be the best meditative music to be found, but if I want something true to my roots and to express what I wish I could, I can find to better than Wovenhand or 16 Horsepower. It's dark and beautiful cries for understanding and redemption from a wicked and evil world. This is a desert island album. It's simply that perfect. Get it and every other album Edwards has put out.

David Eugene Edwards,frontman for the late lamented 16 Horsepower,has fashioned a superb album. CTB [yes,the title is a scripture reference] takes woven hands' previous recordings,along with 16HP energy, and fuses it marvelously.Edwards sits in an awkward position:a believing Christian who does not fit into a niche that often is associaited with alot of "christian music"{UGH}Perhaps because it is; A] Good and B}literate he is blessedly passed over by the pablum machine which drives much of that industry. There are some true standouts on this album:Sparrow Falls, Chest of Drawers, the reworking of the old Lutheran hymn,Down in Yon Forest.Edwards sings with the knowledge of a man who has fought the demons within,failed alot, and knows the dawn and a reckoning is coming. He is rapidly becoming my favorite contemporary artist. This is the best recording I have heard in quite sometime,infintely superior to much of what is churned out. Quite simply, this is David Eugene Edwards masterpiece.

For fans of Sixteen Horsepower, Woven Hand comes highly reccommended. After their split early in 2005, any of those still in need of their unique, bleak take on the world can look to Woven Hand for more. David Eugene Edwards, the vocalist, songwriter, and banjo/bandoneon player of Sixteen Horsepower formed Woven Hand as a side project while the rest of the band took a break from touring. Now, even though Sixteen Horsepower no longer exists, Woven Hand and Lilium (the band formed by Pascal Humbert and Jean Yves-Tola, the other members of 16 horsepower), are still going strong.
Consider the Birds is the best of Woven Hand yet.
Look for more excellent records from Woven Hand in the future.

I can't do a better job than Muppet and Sir at explaining just how great this CD is. Only to reiterate that this is some of the best music DEE has ever made. Saying Consider the Birds is a combination of Folklore and Secret South would be selling it short..but if you enjoy those albums and weren't a big fan of the first Woven Hand albums you should really give it a listen...also..please don't download this album for free..help DEE put food in the mouths of his little kin...the song To Make a Ring is worth the price of the CD alone.

Not sure where the amateur jury sits with this one, or the professionals or,the masses. I'm no advocate of preachy matters, but despite a manic element about David Eugene Edwards, I like the guy's music, and he keeps me interested. This is, and only by small degrees, a more muted product than those familiar with Sixteen Horsepower. I can't believe now, that I came by the group via Slim Cessna. Both writers tackle Christianity, but Slim's spin is ironic and perverse, operating under a C & W umbrella. Edwards is really out there. He sings from a remote place, as if singing will bring him into communion. It's that urgency that I find compelling. There are moments when he casts a similar spell of abandonment that the best Cormac McCarthy writing does. And as uncomfortable as that may be, I find it an invigorating tonic.