Henrys

Don Rooke is a master of two distinct sounding guitars: the Weissenborn and the Hawaiian Kona. From both he extracts sweeping and exquisite beauty, and he's best known for doing so on Mary Margaret O'Hara's recordings (she returns the favour by vocalising with the Henrys). Past Henrys recordings have been intoxicating rainy day records, even if they occasionally ventured into CBC Radio musical segue territory. Joyous Porous, however, finds the Henrys taking a leap into considerably more experimental waters, where it's all about languid texture and much less about traditional song structure. It makes Friends of Dean Martinez sound like Blueshammer. In the cinematically capable hands of Rooke and company, including O'Hara, bassist David Piltch, violinist Hugh Marsh and others, just about anything is possible.