Chasing Grace

Social Piranhas • Din Of Inequity • Bait & Switch • Intro: Avenues • Avenues of Forgiveness • Sawchuk Head • Joe Batt’s Arm • Agony Aunt • Die Fieldmouse • Chump Changes • Rash • Sweet Daddy Siki • A Mouse in Sheep’s Clothing

Die Fieldmouse
Din of Inequity

ALL RECORDINGS: Paydirt (2020)Quiet Industry (2015)Is This Tomorrow (2009)Joyous Porous (2002)Desert Cure (1998)Chasing Grace (1996)Puerto Angel (1994)The Yearly Ears (dig.comp.’94-98) • Coasting Notes (by Three Metre Day)Atlas Travel (2003)

Chasing Grace, the second CD by The Henrys, 
was released – like the first one – by Demon 
Records in the UK. That was a cool label, but 
then they were bought by a less-cool concern. 
(Is that libelous these days? ‘Less cool’? Cause 
we used to be truly libelous in our earlier years.) 
Anyway, this disc, like the next, was produced 
by John Sheard, friend and polymath.
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Reviews

How can Toronto’s finest lounge-lizard 
instrumental band follow up last year’s debut, 
“Puerto Angel”? Simple – with an album that 
stretches their musical adeptness and 
boundaries still further…Plenty more of the 
sinuous slide guitars and torque-wrench tight 
rhythms that are easy to listen to but a long, long 
way from Easy Listening…The compositions 
and playing are impeccable…Make this one of 
your essential albums.”

-Folk Roots Magazine, U.K., Ian Kearey
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Musically, The Henrys arrive at a strange hybrid, 
an almost ambient concoction of swinging jazz, 
country and blues, tinged by flickering neon. 
David Trevis’s near dub bass pours out like hot 
tar…The Henrys seem to have cultivated a 
completely new genre.

-Q Magazine, U.K., review by Martin Longley, 
October 1996

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Pop by any of the Henrys’ live sessions and 
you’re bound to be treated to a set of edgy 
instrumental ambience, blurring demarcation 
lines between jazz, dustbowl twang and 
sun-baked Hawaiian blues. All the parts appear 
to be in place on Chasing Grace… There is an 
unfaltering sense of ease with which Don Rooke 
guides the sessions, juggling kona, acoustic, 
lapsteel, National and Hawaiian King guitars with 
relentless creativity. And each of Rooke’s 
compositions are impeccably arranged and 
tastefully played, with the guitar/bass/drums 
configuration augmented by trumpet, keys, and 
conch shell and with Mary Margaret O’Hara 
providing occasional flutters.

-NOW Magazine, review by Matt Galloway, 
October 1996

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A mostly acoustic band with folksy roots and 
progressive branches. A few tunes feature 
vocals, but the album’s most soulful singer is 
Don Rooke’s Kona guitar, a Weissenborn-like 
slide instrument. Lovely stuff.

-Guitar Player, February 1997

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The Henrys play classic Americana – wonderfully 
arranged, sharply talented and springing from 
the sheer joy of playing. In a time where most 
see “roots rock” as a return to simpler folk 
forms, the Henrys distinguish themselves by 
adding flourishes that accentuate and decorate 
the music into something extraordinary. A 
couple of songs feature stunning vocals from 
Mary Margaret O’Hara, whose clear voice can at 
times be confused with at theremin. Subtle and 
immersive.”