Let it be said. Charisma isn't about being spectacular. It's about presence. Some have natural presence, while others have to work on it. It's possible to develop, refine, elevate, and master presence. Maybe you will not be as good as the ones with a natural presence, but it will do. I have seen David Eugene Edwards (16 Horsepower, Wovenhand and solo works) once in my life. It was back in 2014 at Debaser Medis, Stockholm when Wovenhand were touring and promoting their album "Refractory Obdurate". Touring and performing can be perceived quite differently. For some artists touring and performing seems to be just another day at the office. Wovenhand delivered something out of the ordinary in 2014. David Eugene Edwards was so absorbed by the music that he seemed uncontactable. The concert left me with a deep impression of what stage presence looks like and the side effect ringing in my ears. Later this year David Eugene Edwards will be perform solo in Stockholm. It's an European tour in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The tour aims to promote his new solo album "Mercurial Silence", which is released May 22, 2026. If possible, I will attend the concert. But, first the long-awaited 16 Horsepower reunion concert on Wednesday evening. An old dream is coming true. I came too late into the world of gothic country and have tried my best to make up for lost time. My expectations are incredibly high. I will be back with a blog post.   

Some bands never let you down. In an unpredictable world we need a constant factor. Swarme of Beese makes albums with regularity. Now they have released a new album called "Orchard of Dreams". From the product description: "The band’s fourth album — eight tracks that weave together historical & contemporary themes through poetic storytelling, ethereal vocal harmonies, & atmospheric instrumental arrangements. Four songs are newly written by the group’s songwriting duo Lynne Adele & Stephen Canner, together with Ms. Adele’s bittersweet reframing of Canner’s “Distant Father” from a woman’s perspective, & three traditional ballads — the first time the trio has deviated from recording original material to explore some of their early folk influences. Highlights include the title track, a tribute to the American folk hero & visionary plantsman known as Johnny Appleseed; the cinematic “Wreck of the Elizabeth,” inspired by the tragic death of the trailblazing Transcendentalist writer Margaret Fuller; “The Shallow River,” a heartfelt anthem reflecting on the humanitarian crisis facing immigrants & asylum seekers; & an unsettling interpretation of the 19th-century American dystopian folk ballad “State of Arkansas.”

The album contains four new songs, one rearranged song and three traditional ballads. Usually, I strongly advise against making interpretations of ballads. It will end in tears. We all have strong opinions of how they should be constructed and sound like. However, the band's take on the ballads brings something new to the table. "The Cuckoo" has been covered to death. Swarme of Beese brings new life to it with interchanging female and male vocal parts. I don't think the occurence of ballads is sign of that they have run out of ideas. Their songwriting skills are intact. This is demonstrated in "Wreck of the Elizabeth", which is one of the highlights on the album. The closing song is "State of Arkansas", a traditional American folk song, detailing a traveler's miserable experiences in the state. In this ballad, Swarme of Beese abandon their sophisticated and delicate sound and mangle us for six whole minutes.    

The best songs are "Distant Father (Her Version)", "The Cuckoo", "Wreck of Elizabeth" and, last but not least, "State of Arkansas". Executive summary: another solid album from Swarme of Beese. The sound quality is clean and euphonic. You can listen to "Orchard of Dreams" and buy it in the format of your choice at Bandcamp, just click here (opens in a new window).     

Recently, I got an e-mail update from Bandcamp. "Dear folks, Sons of Perdition will be performing a bit over half an hour of songs from almost all of our albums at the Hand of Glory Folklore Festival in Whitby, England. We aren't playing anything from Gathered Blood, because it was a bit difficult to adapt to an acoustic duo, which is how we plan to perform. It's a three day festival of folkloric weirdness, but we're playing on Saturday, May 2. Hopefully we'll see some of you there. If so, please say hi because I still have no idea who listens to our miserable dreck." In an e-mail Zebulon Whatley lowers the expectations. "Hopefully not a complete failure. A series of small failures is an acceptable outcome. I haven’t played live in around a decade and we haven’t practiced much so a lot can go wrong." I think Zebulon Whatley got this. He is experienced and judicious. It's wise to keep it simple when you're performing as an acoustic duo. And, it isn't the Glastonbury festival. The "hand of glory" refers to a mummified severed human hand. It was given to Whitby Museum in 1935 and is the only alleged hand of its type known to be preserved. A "hand of glory" was supposedly the carefully prepared and pickled right hand of a felon, cut off whilst the body still hung from the gallows and used by burglars to send sleepers in a house into a coma from which they were unable to wake. A gruesome history and perfect setting for a folklore festival.

I have been to Starbucks once in my life. They lured me into it. The hype was (un)real. I thought I was in for something special and tasty. The staff wrote my name on a cup. It didn't make me feel special. It was assembly line disguised as personal service. The coffee was bland. Not tasty. Starbucks has been criticized for creating a contrived atmosphere through forced, formulaic employee interactions, scripted, overly enthusiastic conversations, and performative, marketing-driven messages. Hence the policy of hand-writing customer names on cups. The first Starbucks coffee shop in Sweden opened in 2010 at Arlanda airport (outside Stockholm). The first real coffee shop in the centre of Stockholm opened in 2014 (which was the one I visited). The Starbucks expansion plan was megalomaniac. At its peak, Starbucks had 17 coffee shops in Sweden. Today, only three remain. Why did they utterly fail in Sweden? First, Starbucks came too late into the market. Competitors like Waynes Coffee and Espresso House had already established their concept and created a loyal customer base. Second, Starbucks' coffee quality was mediocre to bad. For a coffee chain this is a major problem. Third, too much sugar in their products. The only people who go there now are tourists.    

The much-anticipated second solo album from the widely recognized godfather of the gothic country genre, David Eugene Edwards, is going to be released on May 22 2026. I don't need to prelisten to place a preorder. David Eugene Edwards' first solo album "Hyacinth" was a stellar album. The official copywriting is better than mine, so here it is in its entirety: "For more than three decades, David Eugene Edwards has carved out a singular path through American music. First with the gothic folk urgency of 16 Horsepower, then with the devotional intensity of Wovenhand, and more recently through the stripped-down landscape of his solo work. On his sophomore solo album Mercurial Silence, Edwards continues the path established on his 2023 debut Hyacinth, while pushing his sound into new territory through the expanded use of electronic production and layered textures. The record finds Edwards channeling the stark intensity that has defined much of his career while embracing a broader sonic palette that feels both ancient and modern. His unmistakable voice moves through layers of bowed strings, percussive drones, and spectral electronics, giving Mercurial Silence the feeling of a transmission from somewhere just beyond reach." Good copywriting. Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.