After the “performance of biblical proportions”, as Radio Študent described Wovenhand’s last visit to Šiška, striking preacher David Eugene Edwards and his group are coming back to take us on a ritualistic voyage into the black vastness of space, on the wings of both the rich American music tradition and heavy, doom-bearing sonic forms, with their new album Star Treatment, recorded in Steve Albini’s studio and released by renowned label Sargent House. Preparing us for the journey will be young Zagreb singer-songwriter Irena Žilić with her new album Haze and a refreshed, intimate expression, pierced by her exceptional voice.
When the above-mentioned record was published last year, just a few days before Nick Cave‘s Skeleton Tree, Stereogum glibly wrote that Wovenhand just might have given us the best Nick Cave record of the week. Though Wovenhand, in particular frontman David Eugene Edwards, who first established his reputation back when he cruised the world with desert folk rock mutant 16 Horsepower, boasts a charismatic and unique musical expression, the compliment is valid – like Cave, Edwards is a master of drawing on the infinite darkness and gazing into the cosmos with thunderous devotion, demonstrated in spiritual séances in the church of folk, country, metal, punk and gospel.
It’s no wonder that Star Treatment found a home at Sargent House, the refuge of esteemed acts such as Russian Circles, Chelsea Wolfe, Deafheaven, Earth, Helms Alee, Marriages and many others. Edwards simply belongs to a different time, to a different rank of musician. The rank of Nick Cave, Michael Gira, Carla Bozulich and PJ Harvey, the rank of mystic troubadours who roar into eternity with their majestic music. We’re happy that we’ll once again be able to experience the “strong presence and striking loudness that effortlessly captured our ears and attention until the end, when we marched home, emotionally and physically exhausted in pleasant catharsis”, as Koridor stated in its review of Wovenhand’s 2015 gig at Kino Šiška.
After her initial shyness, Irena Žilić, yet another jewel of the blooming new wave of Croatian singer-songwriters (alongside Ivana Picek, Sara Renar, Denis Katanec, Lovely Quinces, Miki Solus, …), released her debut Travelling in 2014, with the Croatian Rolling Stone declaring it the fourth best Croatian album of the previous 20 years. At Kino Šiška, she will treat us to her fresh second album Haze, on which she steps away from the acoustic sound of its predecessor and ventures into gloomier electric guitars, atmospheric arrangements and subtle synths, penetrating the shady soundscapes with her clear, emotive voice and poise.
Organisation: Kino Šiška.
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