Reviewer: Tamara Turner, CD Baby
Opening with a pristinely simple yet profound song, “Brotherhood of Man,” commemorating the random and synchronistic, yet unforgettably meaningful, passing moments that connect total strangers in our world, Karen Peris again transfixes and lulls her listeners with her folk magic: her combination of voice and songwriting. No stranger to her fans, however, is her gift to freeze a listener in their tracks, emotionally spellbound. Her partly whimsical, partly passionate muse casts an analgesic spell over a troubled mind and soul, decompressing an overwhelmed spirit, soothing a traumatized heart, allowing the space to once again breathe in the mysterious, to deeply drink again from the gloriously bittersweet elixir of our human existence; as Peris puts it, this “beautiful life, full of grieving.” Not surprisingly, We Walked in Song, is chillingly reminiscent of her opening track in the way the album reaches out to soothe and inspire, lifting the chins of whomever might happen to hear, planting a seed of hope, offering a reminder that there is something precious and tender to believe in. From beginning to end, her songwriting is as exquisite and perhaps, even more intimate than previous releases, mirroring her sweetly-tattered voice, clinging at the purpose of life, embodying a longing as organic as the seed’s yearning for the springtime. Like a soul who has been kicked around and knocked about in life and yet still somehow refuses to be jaded or disillusioned, like a heart whose wrinkles and age spots make it all the more beautiful, Peris captures the dreamer that lives in all of us, regardless of what life has brought us.