Songwriter David Eugene Edwards is a doom minstrel from the Old Testament.
"The Old Testament - we were under the law, and the law was never appointed to save us," the Woven Hand frontman said.
With new album Ten Stones under its belt, the Denver band stops by the Launchpad on Saturday. The album was engineered and produced by Daniel Smith of the group Danielson Famile. The bands have toured together in Europe. Smith also played guitar on some of Woven Hand's tracks.
Edwards is known for his faith, sort of the musician version of the medieval-era painter Hieronymus Bosch, who depicted sinners in corrupt scenes of fire and brimstone proportions.
"I love his work, and I know people thought he was out of his mind at the time," he said. "It was so different than anything else that was out at the time, and it's such a stark contrast to the iconography being painted at the time."
And so Edwards also stands out for his strict views of God's leniency, or lack thereof, when it comes to living up to a divine moral code.
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"In a sense, I'm saying you are doomed, and there's nothing you can do about it," he said.
To label his music Christian rock would be unfair - he is more of a black storm rolling in, an Appalachian-infused serving of dark rock music. He also has a wooden mandolin-banjo made in 1887 that used to be strung with guts, which he used on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series. His three-song performance under the name Woven Hand is available on NPR.org. The second song is a Bob Dylan cover called "As I Went Out One Morning," which he strips down to a simplified, foreboding alarm of a song, like a folkloric Irish lament.
"What I take from the song is just kind of man's inhumanity toward every man disguised behind tradition," he said.ˇ"The selfishness of man and how they treat one another because of that. That's kind of what I sing about in all of my songs. That song, besides being my favorite songˇon that Bob Dylan album, I always wanted to play it. So I started playing it."
He said he's not tired of responding to questions about his take on The Bible as it is at the core of his life and work.
"There's not really much else to talk about," he said. "I mean, people talk about everything else, and there's plenty of people singing about partying. They've got that covered, so I'll sing about something else."
Woven Hand
Saturday, 9 p.m.
Launchpad
618 Central Ave. S.W.
$8 in advance at Launchpadrocks.com
$10 at the door
