★★★★★
This hour long, eleven track meditation - ostensibly on marriage however, as with most of Joe Henry's work, there is much more going on - is an intricately constructed, probably personal song cycle. His 13th solo release is the first for his own label and was recorded over a four day stint in his home studio. It's a laid back, restrained and unhurried set that features stellar work from some of the finest and most subtle players in the business...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2014-06-04
★★★★★
Joe Henry doesn't write love songs, although love suffuses almost every syllable he sings. He writes marriage songs, which are neither dewy-eyed odes to blossoming romance nor tell-all dispatches of domestic warfare, but rather something far more sly and wise and sweet. Forget the silly arguments about squeezing the tube of toothpaste from the top or bottom...
- www.pastemagazine.com
2014-06-04
★★★★★
Reverie is, in Henry's own words, a "raw and raucous and messy affair," recorded in his home studio during live takes with the windows purposely left open. The resulting street sounds of fire engines, dogs barking and traffic moving become as much a part of the fabric of these acoustic but far from laid back sessions as the music itself. On his twelfth album, Henry reconvenes the core band that made his eleventh such a revelation...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2013-04-25
★★★★★
"Acoustic" isn't the first word that comes to mind upon hearing Grammy-winning producer, songwriter and guitarist Joe Henry's 12th album. Yet it is acoustic, if loose and experimentally so, with piano and bass drum in a percussive dialogue, threatening to rip apart some of the rougher songs on which Henry sings rueful, yearning blues - the stuff of dark dreams and recollections. While recording, he left the windows open...
- www.nowtoronto.com
2012-01-19
★★★★★
Joe Henry is the perfect storm of singer/songwriter/producer. Right out of the box, the singular sound of his production is always striking. Not unlike Lanois' Wall Of Murk, Henry's work invariably consists of stark layers of gentle noise, undulating blocks of sound, instruments alternately lurching into and jutting out of the arrangements, and elusive lyrical abstractions representing the darkest reaches of the emotional spectrum...
- www.glidemagazine.com
2012-01-05
★★★★★
Although all of Joe Henry's albums over the past decade contained sublime moments, there were just as many other ones where he was reaching for something beyond his grasp. On Reverie, Henry's 12th release, he strips things down to the bare essentials: his voice and acoustic guitar, accompanied by pianist Keefus Ciancia, and his frequent rhythm section of upright bassist David Piltch and drummer Jay Bellerose...
- exclaim.ca
2011-11-10
★★★★★
Singer-songwriter Joe Henry's career trajectory has been chameleonic: He started off rooted in alternative country before flirting with everything from meat-and-potatoes rock 'n' roll to tape loop-based trip-hop experimentalism. During the 2000s, however, it seemed he'd finally discovered his true voice, turning out an impressive string of darkly soulful albums which didn't neatly fit any one genre but evoked many of the same feelings as the rickety, whiskey-soaked jazz-blues of Tom Waits...
- www.pastemagazine.com
2011-10-13
★★★★★
I love Joe Henry. I have known him for almost as many years as I have been in Los Angeles, and every single time I encounter him I walk away a better man. Lucky for us Angelenos he chose to relocate to the West Coast from his Michigan upbringing. His presence has enriched our fair city as an outpost of a new breed of world class artistry...
- www.kcrw.com
2011-10-03
★★★★★
Whenever you look at an old picture from the '30s or '40s, the same feeling tends to creep up on you. First you may laugh at the funny clothes of the people in the picture, but once you take a closer look you are left haunted, wondering what become of the smiling faces. The same can be said for Joe Henry's latest release, Civilians. Henry's self-consciously artful roots rock may at first seem fit for a lazy Sunday afternoon, but the album's dark beauty slowly grabs you...
- www.offbeat.com
2010-11-09
Loading...
