Apocrypha

henryohenry’s debut Apocrypha comes from a life split between Dublin and 30 years in the US, where he worked in the trades and absorbed the country’s mythologies. What emerges is his own “idiosyncratic American language”, closer to Whitman’s vision than the version he found.

By his own account, henryohenry is “formally and informally not a musician”. Nearly every song was written on a $6 charity-shop guitar with a repaired headstock and unpredictable strings, though it never appears on the record.

Produced by filmmaker Rick Alverson, the album is anchored by Eamon O’Leary and his son Ned Steves, recording together for the first time without rehearsal. Erik Hall mixed and added overdubs, while Emilie Rex of Lean Year and poet Callie Garnett also appear. Standout There feels like a lasting victory over the feelings that made it.