Consider the Birds is singer-songwriter Wovenhand's third recording and it is the most difficult sort of album to review. David Eugene Edwards is Wovenhand for all intents and purposes and though this latest release isn't exactly for the birds, (in it's own way it's quite good) for reasons I'll soon touch upon, it leaves one at a loss as far as how to go about fairly reviewing it. Is this because his music is so complex that defies explanation? No. Is it because it is so revolutionary that it can't be categorized into any specific genre? Wrong again. The reason I'll have a tough time with this is because Wovenhand sounds exactly and I mean EXACTLY like Joseph Arthur.

Not the Joseph Arthur whose latest album was a disappointing departure from his first two albums Redemption's Son and his critically acclaimed debut Come To Where I'm From, but identical to these first two gems - particularly Come To Where I'm From. The gruff, low-registered vocals, the melancholy and haunting melodies, the imaginative arrangements, the lyrical pathos it's all here as though he simply took Come To Where I'm From, plugged it in a computer and hit a scramble program that would disguise the lyrics enough to fool someone into believing that it was actually him and not Joseph Arthur. Personally I'm still not convinced.

On the plus side of the ledger, if you've never heard Arthur's debut, and you were to purchase and or download it, you would probably like it quite a bit. You'd even call your friends and say, "Dude you've got to check out this Wovenhand shit." I would have, no doubt, had a similar reaction to it. Sadly I'm more than familiar with the album that Entertainment Weekly proclaimed the best of 2000 and thus I won't be calling anyone up about anything. If someone asks, I'll just tell it like it is - this David Eugene Edwards guy ripped off Joseph Arthur note for note. Hopefully next time he'll try his Wovenhand at his own music.