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thetowntalk.com
Review: Beauty, sadness combine
for gorgeous brilliance
Andrew Griffin <mailto:agriffin@thetowntalk.com>
/ Staff Reporter
Posted on September 14, 2003
"Befriended," the latest
album from Lancaster, Pa.-based band the Innocence Mission, reminds the listener
that beauty and sadness can combine to result in gorgeous brilliance.
Lead singer and primary songwriter Karen Peris sings her atmospheric songs as if
she is floating in a dream. It's an ethereal sound that is accompanied by the
atmospheric guitar of husband Don Peris and the subtle bass of Mike Bitts.
It was back in 1989, while walking down a street in Taos, N.M., that I noticed a
poster in a record store window announcing the release of a debut album by this
new band, the Innocence Mission. I was instantly intrigued by the name and album
art alone. When I returned home, I sought out this album and eventually found a
copy.
Back then, they were a artsy folk-pop group where drums were present, not unlike
10,000 Maniacs and the Sundays, two airy and literate folk-pop bands that were
all over college radio in the late 80s and early 90s. By 1991, when
"Umbrella" was released, the Innocence Mission proved themselves to be
a serious alternative to the mindless rock and pop filling the airwaves at that
time. Just listen to "And Hiding Away" from that album and you'll know
what I'm talking about.
Over time, however, IM became quieter and more introspective. This is partly due
to the 1998 departure of longtime drummer Steve Brown. Their more intimate sound
became apparent after the release of their underrated 1999 album, "Birds of
My Neighborhood."
With "Befriended," released by the Badman Recording Co., the songs
float on the aural currents of hidden streams flowing somewhere between heaven
and earth. Listening to the bittersweet "When Mac Was Swimming" is
like looking into a faded photograph. Many of their songs are like that. Even
their album art uses old photographs from another time and place.
"Beautiful Change," with its airy guitar and delicate tambourine frame
Karen Peris's humble and kind voice. You can tell she loves what she does.
"Music is one of those gifts God gave to people to help them learn about
how we're all connected," Karen Peris is quoted as saying. This is clearly
the case.
Peris's voice and the accompanying music can be quite moving at times. On
"Walking Around," she sings of a girl longing for an English boy she
knew for a brief time. Don Peris sings backup on this lilting song.
"Rain happens into my room at night/when there is so much time to miss
you/Beautiful changes I've seen sometimes/the clouds changing into reindeer and
flying to places clear of sorrow."
The Peris's Christian faith is clearly evident on many of the songs, even though
it's not overt. Comparisons to Over the Rhine or the Ocean Blue could be made in
this regard.
On "No Storms Come," the lyrics have been adapted from the Gerard
Manley Hopkins poem "Heaven-Haven (A Nun Takes the Veil)." Karen plays
piano on this track.
Natural imagery plays a role in many of the Innocence Mission's songs.
The springtime of Easter, summer swimming in the pools, coal-gray twilight,
winter afternoons, leaf-bright Friday drives and gray Pennsylvania skies all
evoke times and places, thoughts and memories. This is the Innocence Mission's
bread and butter, and on "Befriended" there is an ample supply.
Thoughtful people who like to watch autumn leaves blowing in the wind or
listening to a gentle rainfall will appreciate their sound and poetic lyrics. I
know I do.
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