*** 16 Horsepower SECRET SOUTH (Razor & Tie)

16 Horsepower have created the sonic equivalent of The Blair Witch Project, only deeper and scarier. The Denver-based quartet are good and creepy throughout this 11-tune set of tunes driven by quirky, bottom-heavy instrumentation and the intense vocals of David Eugene Edwards, who combines Jim Morrison's near-hysteria with a Dylanesque ability to turn a phrase on fatalistic sets of lyrics about love and wandering and faith that range from merely eerie to apocalyptic. The use of shadowy background vocals and the blend of scratchy banjo with rumbling bass and drums makes the band's third CD sound as though it had been recorded in the mausoleum of a forgotten Southern cemetery. The old folk ballad "Wayfaring Stranger" is the lone cover; the other material combines guitarist/banjo player Edwards's brooding vision with the work of co-founder Jean-Yves Tola, who plays drums and keyboards. In the mesmerizing opening cut, "Clogger," Edwards sings: "You're thinking when this is all over, we'll all just sit back and laugh, but I don't think so, friend, cuz I done the math." He's not kidding.

-- Bill Kisliuk

(16 Horsepower play Lilli's on Friday September 22. Call 591-1661.)