The Spiritual Successor of the renowned goth-country band 16 Horsepower.
Back in the early 00's, as the members of 16HP started drifting apart, primary songwriter David Eugene Edwards continued writing and recording music by himself because he had no other means of putting food on the table. 16HP's last years had seen the band shifting from country-rock to more of a dark folk sound; DEE's new music project, dubbed Woven Hand, continued this shift, and carried the music into even stranger territories, drawing influence from Post-Rock, Industrial, Native American percussion, and Medieval European songwriting.
The early Woven Hand albums were essentially solo affairs, with David Eugene Edwards providing vocals, guitar, banjolonote , bass, drums, keyboards, hurdy-gurdy, and bandoneon with a minimum of guest musicians. However, Woven Hand has since grown to become a full band, currently consisting of DEE, Ordy Garrison on drums, Charles French on guitar, and Neil Keener on bass.
Also of note is that Wim Vandekeybus, head of the Ultima Vez Dance Co. in Belgium, is a friend of David Eugene Edwards and has commissioned soundtracks by Woven Hand for two productions: Blush and Puur.
Discography:
- Woven Hand (2002)
- Blush Music / Blush (Original Score) (2003)
- Consider the Birds (2003)
- Mosaic (2006)
- Puur (2006) Has yet to be released outside Europe.
- Ten Stones (2008)
- The Threshingfloor (2010)
- Black of the Ink (2011) A book with lyrics and illustrations by DEE, and an accompanying 6-song CD with new recordings of prior songs.
- Live at Roepaen (2012)
- The Laughing Stalk (2012)
- Refractory Obdurate (2014)
- Star Treatment (2016)
Provides examples of:
- Compound Title: Refractory Obdurate gets its title from two songs, "The Refractory" and "Obdurate Obscura".
- Drone of Dread: Many tracks have drones playing behind the melody to add an air of menace (see "Winter Shaker"). Sometimes DEE inverts this and uses drones to convey a peaceful mood (see the hidden track from Ten Stones).
- Epic Rocking: Half the songs on Blush Music.
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Ending Fatigue: The longest track, "Animalitos (Ain't No Sunshine)" clocks in at 14 minutes and has four fakeout endings.
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- Hidden Track:
- On Mosaic, the last song on the track list is followed by a minute of silence and then a short unlisted song, "Shun".
- Ten Stones has an untitled drone song immediately following the last listed song.
- I Am the Band
- Indecipherable Lyrics: "His Loyal Love".
- List Song: The lyrics of "Coup Stick" are a list of the Old Testament kings of Israel and Judah, translated to English.
- Pop-Star Composer: Did we mention that Blush Music and Puur are goth-industrial-folk soundtracks for a Belgian ballet company?
- Rearrange the Song: Most of Blush Music and Puur.
- Scatting: DEE will frequently speak in tongues at live shows while transitioning between songs (it sounds a bit like fake Russian). He incorporated this into "Slota Prow" and to a lesser extent "The Threshingfloor".
- Spell My Name With An S: They were credited as "Woven Hand" on the first two albums, then as "Wovenhand" on every album since.
- Unplugged Version: All the tracks on Black of the Ink are stripped-down, acoustic versions of songs from prior albums.
