Joyous Porous (2002)

The 2002 Henrys recording with Don Rooke, Michael White, John Sheard, Hugh Marsh, David Piltch, Jorn Andersen and Mary Margaret O'Hara that was reviewed in the Toronto Star as follows: Among all the infectious noise being made by acoustic slide guitar players in recent times, Toronto kona player Don Rooke and his ensemble of like-minded abstract sound architects stand out on their fourth album as the high-minded intellectuals in their class, the quiet scientists scratching away at the borders of the folk/time continuum while the other guys are staging a hootenanny. "Old instruments, new sounds" is the way Rooke describes what The Henrys do - they use sophisticated recording and playing techniques and elaborate audio processes to extract from a resonator guitar and other plucked acoustic instruments the harmonics, overtones and oblique noises behind the rustic notes to create landscapes that are astonishingly romantic, frightening, sexual, spiritual - and quite beautiful. Brave new music. -Toronto Star review by Greg Quill, December 14, 2002