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Folklore
Artist: 16 Horsepower
Label: Jet Set Records
Length: 10 Tracks/36:00

Folklore does create some confusion. Keyboard player and guitarist Steven Taylor has left the band and the remaining three 16 Horsepower members have promptly banned loud guitars from their new album. Only a few weeks after David Eugene Edwards' solo project Woven Hand the fourth album of the 16hp's is released. For Folklore 16 Horsepower has picked four original compositions and six pieces of work by unfamiliar authors of music. 

This second Glitterhouse album almost works like an interlude, an MTV-Unplugged album, a compilation of favorite songs. Folklore presents itself as a step in a new direction. But where does this journey lead? That question is answered by the two Frenchmen and Denver's unyielding son with a lot of acoustics, country and sound experiments. 

"In the dream my gray horse spoke to me. Find me neath the killing cliff. Hang my skull on the old larch tree. Carve from its wood a two string fiddle. Cover over with the skin of my face. String my hair down the neck in place" (#7 "horse head fiddle"). The songs that the American band exiles to the album are mysterious. "Horse Head Fiddle" has a very archaic effect because of the super low and dampish background noise (an accordion?) and the stanza. The traditional appeals to primitive instincts and unfolds like a message from times long forgotten. The trio asks questions, even when, like in #8 "Sinnerman" the traditional seems to give an answer. The "Run to the Lord" is drowned by the restless rambling of the sinners.

Chris Flier 7/20/2002

David Eugene Edwards continues to amaze me, and over the years has put together one of the most impressive music catalogs of any artist.  The latest release from 16 Horsepower, Folklore, just furthers that idea in my mind.  Picking up where he left off with his Woven Hand side-project, Edwards and the gang seem to be headed in a decidedly more acoustic direction.  The loud guitars and throbbing bass are mostly gone, but the sound has also taken a much darker turn.  Hard to imagine, but true.  Things aren't getting any brighter in DEE-land.

The disc starts off with "Hutterite Mile," the first of many truly haunting tunes, and one of only four original tunes present.  They then move into a traditional Hungarian tune, "Outlaw Song," in which DEE very effectively sings from the point of view of one being hunted by the law.  The band also does a nice cover of Hank Williams's (Sr., not Jr. or III) "Alone and Forsaken" as well as version of the Carter Family's "Single Girl" that does A.P. and Mother Maybelle proud.

On the Tuvan folk song "Horse Head Fiddle" Edwards and company provide an instrumentation and vocal delivery that, while not actually qualifying as Tuvan throat singing, effectively mirrors that tradition.  This is followed by the American traditional tune "Sinnerman." 

The beauty of this disc is that one could listen to it and never knew which songs were original and which were traditional folk songs.  Edwards has so steeped himself in the culture of folklore and traditional music (American and otherwise) that his own compositions co-habitate quite seamlessly with the songs of his musical forbears.

With Folklore, 16 Horsepower continues to produce music that is distinctly their own, while growing and moving in new and exciting directions. 

Ken Mueller 8/4/2002

Folklore , by its title, would imply that this album is comprised of traditional songs, perhaps with new arrangements, somewhat in the vein of O Brother Where Art Thou?  This is partially true - four of the songs contained here are traditional songs, while Hank Williams and the Carter Family are also represented.  16HP also has composed four new tunes with the same sensibilities of their predecessors.

“Hutterite Mile,” one of the original numbers, paints a stark picture of a man determined to walk the narrow road:

Iron sharpens iron
Crooked wooden and peacock black
I have your feathers 
Slung across my back
I’m not the only one 
To help you down the hill
My blue knuckles do as they will.
 

“Outlaw Song,” about a fugitive on the run, is portrayed in a Johnny Cash/Neil Young style.  “Blessed Persistence” is a haunting tune, while “Alone and Forsaken” (originally done by Hank Williams) describes a man abandoned “by fate and by man,” pleading for God to help him feel any semblance of love on earth.

“Horse Head Fiddle” sounds like nothing more than a Jim Morrison poem set to music.  “Flutter” demonstrates David Edwards’ vocal range, as he imitates Daniel Ash.  Throughout most of the disc, he sounds more like Dylan crossed with the two Morrisons (Van and Jim).  

If you enjoy Steinbeck’s novels, or the bleak, almost mournful songs of early country music, Folklore should be right up your alley.  If you want bouncy, happy pop music, run screaming in the other direction.

Brian A. Smith 2/3/2003

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