Holy cow! And I do mean that literally, dear readers, as you
will come to see. I've just experienced a delightfully brooding,
frightfully atmospheric little CD by alterna-country band "Sixteen
Horsepower," and I'm having a bit of trouble returning to
the twentieth century. I'm not exactly sure where I've just been,
but it was nowhere near 1998. In fact, I'd swear I was trapped
in a rusty old tintype of a crumbling ghost-town while echoes
of the Old West whispered around me. It was eerie. It was unsettling.
It was well worth the trip.
But in order to imagine that of which I write, it would help
to know a bit about the driving forces behind one of the more
eclectic acts I've heard in a long while. The four-man band is
headed by one Dave Eugene Edwards, vocalist/composer/lyricist/instrumentalist
extraordinaire. Edwards, self-taught in piano, guitar, drums,
and fiddle, was in a roots-punk band that had relocated from
his native Colorado to Los Angeles when he met French drummer
Jean-Yves Tola. The two discovered a shared interest in Bob Dylan,
Leonard Cohen, and Nick Cave and the Gun Club. Edwards' long-time
friend, Keven Soll, was then recruited for bass duties, and the
band released their debut album, "Sackcloth N' Ashes,"
in 1996. However, Soll has since been replaced by another Frenchman
and a former band-mate of Tola, Pascal Humbert. Completing the
current lineup is the addition of another of Edwards' friends
from youth, Jeffrey Paul Norlander (backup vocals/guitar/organ/fiddle/cello).
Together, this foursome wails out tales of damnation and salvation;
of decades-lost souls wandering in a hazy and surreal, sepia-tinged
landscape where the battle between Satan and God rages eternally
on. Think director John Huston on a severe acid trip, hell-bent
on creating the definitive, most electrifying portrait of the
Old West the human mind can withstand. Sprinkle on a liberal
dose of gloom and doom laced with the desperate struggle and
torment of man in all his weakness and imperfection, and you
have "Low Estate."
The album's dominant theme of Heaven vs. Hell is no passing whim
it should be noted. Edwards' grandfather was, in fact, an itinerant
fire-and-brimstone-style preacher, who travelled the Colorado
countryside in search of sinners who could be saints. A talent
scout for the Lord, ever on the look-out for star players to
add to Heaven's roster. Practically from infancy on, David Edwards
travelled along with his grandfather, and it was from this early
influence that sprang his fascination with the powerful pull
of old-style religion.
Edwards counts the intensity of somber, spiritual hymns as among
his favorite music, and his compositions do, indeed, reverberate
with the force of an evangelist's unshakable devotion. It's the
lyrics, however, that make the listener wonder just which side
of Purgatory Edwards is actually on. What a delicious contradiction.
And just in case their audience isn't completely drawn into the
acrid images of days (nearly) better left unremembered, "Sixteen
Horsepower" kicks it completely through the portal into
another day and age by performing the album's songs with such
instruments as banjo and squeeze box, xylophone and fiddle, all
rounded off to eerie perfection by the sometimes mournful, sometimes
tortured, but always appropriate vocals provided by Edwards.
Throughout the basic bluegrass, hillbilly threads of the musical
style that was woven for this album, there can also be found
in Edwards' interpretations the colorful splash of a punk-based
past. Against all expectations, especially in view of the country/Americana
flavor of the compositions, it works. Which pretty much sums
up the complete picture of this latest release.
Not much more can be said without ruining the surprises this
album has in store for listeners. This is one project that is
not heard so much as it is experienced. Even though country-based
music may not be your thing (it isn't mine, I confess), "Low
Estate" is rich enough in originality and creativity to
make it well worth the investment of the adventurous music listener.
I look forward to "Sixteen Horsepower's" next project.
But in the meantime, I plan to keep "Low Estate" close
at hand for whenever I feel like escaping this century. |
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