Woven Hand
Refractory Obdurate

The distorted bard of Christianity, the Indian of dark country, the shaman of desert folk, the ever-more abrasive composer of a personal and disorienting gothic western. Two years after the splendid "The Laughing Stalk," here comes the return of David Eugene Edwards, former leader of 16 Horsepower.

In his homage to the desert expanses of an America caught between the religious and the psychedelic, DEE had gotten us used to works balancing between the folk of his former band, a personal brand of country, and a dark, almost "gothic," atmosphere, in a continuous blend of these elements. His albums have always been diverse but well embedded in a musical "creation" with definable traits. The latest "Refractory Obdurate" (April 2014) is a "different" album compared to what Edwards had accustomed us to. Now aware of an extraordinary compositional maturity, many expected a deeply introspective record, more self-contained, but instead DEE delivered the most visceral, powerful, and "metallic" effort of his career. The punk/rock inflections of "Good Shepherd", the sonic assault of "Field of Hedon", the almost Sabbathian reminiscences of "Hiss" ("Children of the grave"). Never before had dear David accustomed us to such a guitar-driven surge in his past experiences.

The sound construction of the Woven Hand project has almost always been entrusted to a multitude of elements and the creation of an "expanded" atmosphere with changing traits. There was expressive and compositional grandiosity in the past musical evocations: now we find a sidelining of the multitude of nuances in favor of more stripped-down songwriting "reduced to the bone." A more direct and brutal litany, but when DEE retraces his old steps, he perhaps delivers the best track of the album, that "Obdurate Obscura" which is pure ancestral epicity. "Salome" is instead the song that more than others unites the two distinct souls of "Refractory Obdurate," the more rock-oriented one (in the splendid final opening) and the more old style and folk/country of the beginning. Hail to you, Edwards.

"Refractory Obdurate" does not have the evocative and declamatory strength of several past works. If one really wants to compare it, it would lose against the previous "The Laughing Stalk" but it is complicated to compare RO, as it is an unusual chapter in the Woven Hand discography. Yet it is a work that reconfirms, this time in a new way, an author/composer/musician among the most inspired and unclassifiable of recent years.

Three and a half stars (and a vote to have the half star on Debaser).

1. "Corsicana Clip" (4:47)
2. "Masonic Youth" (3:39)
3. "The Refractory" (4:53)
4. "Good Shepherd" (4:00)
5. "Salome" (5:19)
6. "King David" (4:46)
7. "Field Of Hedon" (3:32)
8. "Obdurate Obscura" (5:20)
9. "Hiss" (3:53)
10. "El-Bow" (2:41)