Woven Hand – Woven Hand

The solo album produced by 16 Horsepower’s singer/lyricist during a tour hiatus. It’s not that radical a departure from the rolling song structures and pious (in a positive sense) lyrics that define his work with the band. The closest comparison I can muster is between White Zombie recordings and solo Rob Zombie – essentially the same thing. Of course, since 16HP is sublime on its own, Woven Hand is a treasure for fans, mainly because it shares with the recent Folklore a similar acoustic approach. While it might not be a great starting point (how the hell do you get into 16HP, if not by first seeing them live? I would recommend that over any of their releases), if you’ve already acquired the taste, nothing should hold you back from getting this. Oh, and the extremely creepy cover of “Ain’t No Sunshine” – with banjos and guitar noise, and with D.E.E. intoning low, “And I know…yeah, I know” – is worth the price of admission. Terrific.
Rating: B+