April 7, 2005

The Innocence Mission

NOW THE DAY IS OVER

(Badman Recording Co.)

Blessed with an angelic voice, Karen Peris led her folk-pop band the Innocence Mission through just a handful of haunting '90s-era releases, even as the dull din of neo-grunge swamped everything on the radio. No less than ex-10,000 Maniac Natalie Merchant became a fan of Peris, including her on a few tracks on 1998's Ophelia. Merchant aside, however, critics have often dwelled inordinately upon the points of comparison between the Mission and Britpop act the Sundays. With Now the Day Is Over, Peris has jettisoned most of her band, relying on husband/guitarist Don, bassist Mike Bitts and her own keyboard skills to provide a spare backdrop for an album's worth of covers of the American Songbook.

The Disney classic "Stay Awake" is the opening track, transformed into an ironic lullaby, in which the lulling power of sleep beckons both singer and listener into an unearthly realm, where real life is coma-inducing and only dreams offer vitality. "Over the Rainbow," meanwhile, has never been presented more delicately or with more bittersweet angst. And Peris excels when she nostalgically hitches "Moon River" to a wagon wheel in the Sonora, giving the song all the visual expanse of a Western sunset.

There have been a lot of covers albums in the last decade made by recording artists (including Merchant) who have seemingly run out of creative ideas and opted to fall back on established material to fill the gap between wholly original collections. With Now the Day Is Over, on the other hand, you find an artist approaching the musical canon with all the innocent, wide-eyed wonder of young chorister as she discovers the effortless melodies of Chopin for the first time -- as Peris herself apparently does with "Prelude in A." While not the most significant release of the year, Now the Day Is Over breathes new life into some old songs you might have thought you never needed to hear again.

JARRET KEENE