This CD is really excellent for a debut outing, and I mean that. It's quite possibly the biggest surprise I've experienced yet in the arena of the sight-unseen listen. Turn the CD over in your hands, you won't see any references to Peter Gabriel anywhere, but trust me, the spirit is there. This is not to say it's a bad knockoff, or a cheesy ripoff. This is the real deal. It is emotional, heartfelt, intelligent, mature, and most of all, real.

Henriksen's age isn't noted in the liner or the literature, but from the photograph I'd guess that he's in his mid-twenties. However, listen to this gorgeous scratchy tenor and you will swear you are listening to a younger Peter Gabriel who happens to play a guitar instead of a Fairlight. A proficient soloist without falling into the Lead Gutarist Thirty Second Solo trap, he instead chooses to weave an album like a fabric, the sum total of which includes many colors, shades, and influences.

Radio-minded, but nowhere near a bubblegum pop swirl, Henriksen works with not just a guitar to create his dynamic sound, but also on instruments usually associated with the World Music genre. Sitars, tabla drums, Swedish bagpipes, and moon lutes, among other international treasures, litter the soundscape to dazzling effect. Henriksen says, "I listen to a lot of world music myself and I want to encourage other people to know about the different cultures and sounds." While that credo could engender a record that plays like an experiment in an ethnomusicology student's version of name-that-tune, his plays as naturally as if he had known these instruments his whole life.

The opening track, "If I Could," starts with the same bells as Gabriel's "Lazarus Raised," and incorporates samples of Tibetan monks, but the music itself couldn't be more different. Part call-and-response, part folk romp, it's an exercise in Sunday-afternoon groove. "Uneasy Street" is a delicately-treated, beautiful track that features spoken vocals underneath layered drums "Broken words, they exist on uneasy street. . ." "These are the sounds from around the world. . ."

Not a lengthy lyricist, Henriksen seems to prefer just creating music and letting a few sparse comments pepper the space where it fits in. Also fitting in, at least in one of those "Excuse me?" moments, is Nina Hagen, who contributed vocals to the track "Beyond Life." A little simplistic lyrically, but still lovely. See if you can pick her out among the vocal tracks. "Dreaming In Colors" becomes a trip through the surreal soundwave occasionally woven a la Robert Fripp's collaborations, and is one of the most powerful. "This time's for us. I look at the time. Can you keep me awake, alive?"

I could go on for hours about what a lovely a little record this is. I hope Capitol puts a lot of muscle, but not overexposure, into this artist. I think he's got a lot of ground to cover and a lot to share with us for a long, long time, much the way Gabriel still does today, while still remaining current and relevant. I am looking forward to many happy rainy nights spent with this on the stereo. If you're smart, you'll be doing the same.