Christ Haunted

David Eugene Edwards is one of my favorite contemporary Christian artists. I've seen comparisons in various reviews ranging from the Violent Femmes to Nick Cave. And there are similarities. And I would argue that both the Violent Femmes and Nick Cave (and many in-between) are severely Christ-haunted, expressing truths of the Kingdom in song even as they may be (frantically, desperately) denying the Kingdom in the way that their lives are lived.

Anyhow, Edwards, standing in a tradition that extends far beyond either Nick Cave or the Violent Femmes, is an original, even as he exudes familiarity, a deep sense of continuity.

An article from a recent Paste Magazine:

The Uncomfortable Faith of David Eugene Edwards

An mp3 file to give you a taste of song:

The Good Hand

The official 16Horsepower site:

16horsepower.net

The official Woven Hand site:

wovenhand.net

One more mp3 for good measure:

Strong Man

And here's my good friend (it's been too long since last we've seen each other, a large continent shall divide) Joel Dunham's review of the most recent Woven Hand album:

Consider the Birds Review written by Joel Dunham

“What I try to do with my music is to say that it’s never enough, and it never will be enough,” he says in a moment of candor. “It doesn’t matter what you do—how good you are. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done—how bad you are. Salvation is of the Lord, and we think it is of us, if we behave a certain way or eat the right food—basically that God is not sovereign. If there is a God, which I think that a lot of people are ready and willing to admit whether they are Christian or not, it really doesn’t matter. It’s of no consequence if there is a God, because it’s all up to them anyway. Whatever means they choose, meditating or going to the psychologist, they use whatever faith they have as another tool, just like if they were taking a medicine. Basically, my job is to tell people that they are hopeless. Hopeless without Christ.”

-Edwards, from the Paste article