DAVID EUGENE EDWARDS & ALEXANDER HACKE

OSLO, HACKNEY

They’d make for a great, surrealist road movie: Wovenhand’s bandana-clad DAVID EuGENE EDWARDs resembling a Vietnam vet reliving his time as Colonel Kurtz’s spiritual adviser, Einstürzende Neubauten electronics wizard ALEXANDER HACKE an eccentric biker club president sporting a resplendent handlebar moustache and a rocket in his groin. Even if David inhabits his own, mystic world – one where ol’ time, dustbowl Christianity meets a host of spirit guides that he spends large parts of tonight conversing with by way of chants and channelling hand gestures – there’s a well-travelled, outlaw chemistry between the two. Pummelled by Alexander’s eking out of pneumatic grooves and noise interference, David’s soul-seizure, American Gothic testimonies are borne on that resounding, biblically forthright voice, here taking on a mesmerising, hall of mirrors quality. Parish Chief, from their recent Risha album, takes on an added, confrontational thrill, Wovenhand’s Hutterite Mile is a penitent’s pilgrimage sent further into exile by being overlaid with procession beats and All In The Palm is an industrialmeets-Old Testament sensurround. David’s presence is so charged you expect electricity to crackle around him, leaving a room of devotees in his rapt thrall. JONATHAN SELZER