Horses, honeybees and heaven descend on Wovenhand’s Ten Stones

Wovenhand’s TEN STONES to be released on Sounds Familyre, September 2008 – In the words of Robert Browning, Wovenhand heralds "another greater, wilder country" on TEN STONES, the new album by musician David Eugene Edwards (also frontman of acclaimed band 16 Horsepower). Wovenhand grazes in yet stranger pastures on its fifth release with Sounds Familyre. Co-produced by Daniel Smith of Danielson, TEN STONES was recorded at the label’s New Jerusalem Recreation Room in Clarksboro, NJ, as well as at Dust Bowl Studios in Glade Park, CO. Songs were further finessed by guest artist Emil Nikolaisen’s (Serena Maneesh) driving guitar and co-engineering, the rumbling vibrations of 16 Horsepower bandmate Pascal Humbert on electric and double bass, the incisive drumming of Ordy Garrison, and the soulful guitar of Peter Van Laerhoven. On "His Loyal Love," Elin Smith, also of Danielson, adds guest vocals to Humbert’s melody. These sophisticated musicians— many of whom share co-writing credit with Edwards—freshly illumine his considerable vocal range and masterful song craft.

Like a welcome draught from a bottomless well, Edwards sings ten untamed and mercy-drenched songs for thirsty listeners on TEN STONES. From the jarring folk of "White Knuckle Grip", to the eerie bossa nova of Antonio Carlos Jobim ’s "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars", to the fiery foot-stomper "Not One Stone", the album forms a song-cycle that is singular in its breadth and eclecticism. Flanked by the haunting strains of the bandoneón and the drones of the double bass, Edwards' lyrical inversions stitch symbols into a tapestry of peaceable and hellish imagery—horsetails, honeybees, and bird wings meet flaming battles and barbed wire to proclaim sin's devastation and the sweetness of redemption. The music of Wovenhand is utterly unique, dizzying those who encounter it, with turnings and lashings of shadow and light.