Last month, The Innocence Mission treated us to a new recording of ‘The Lakes of Canada’, originally from their fourth studio album Birds of My Neighborhood released in 1999. It was a reminder of how great this band still are and Sufjan Stevens probably summed it up best when he called their music “moving and profound,” adding “What is so remarkable about Karen Peris’ lyrics is the economy of words, concrete nouns which come to life with melodies that dance around the scale-like sea creatures.”
The good news is that this week, the Pennsylvania trio, fronted by Karen Peris and husband Don, announced a new album. “See You Tomorrow” is to be released on 17th January via Bella Union. The accompanying press suggests themes of “Love, connection, community and understanding” are at the core of the album, one that is steeped in awe and wonder, intense longing, sadness and joy; a rich sequence of songs that attempt to describe the essence of what makes us human.
The band have shared a moving video for lead track “On Your Side”, created by Karen Peris, which beautifully weaves together her distinctive hand-drawn animation with striking black & white photography.
The band recorded See You Tomorrow in the Peris’ basement (and the dining room where the piano sits). Karen wrote and sang ten of the album’s eleven songs, and plays guitars, piano, pump organ, accordion, electric bass, melodica, mellotron, and an old prototype strings sampler keyboard. Don contributes guitars, drums, vocal harmonies, and one lead vocal on his song ‘Mary Margaret In Mid-Air’. Fellow founder member Mike Bitts adds upright bass to four songs including ‘On Your Side’, above.
Thematically, See You Tomorrow evolves from ‘Sun On The Square’, touching on the major changes that happen in the life of a family. Karen says, “Great love of course contains great anxiety, for the safety and health of the loved ones, for one’s own ability to be a good enough helper and companion, for the future. And the intense desire to hold the present moment of togetherness, at the very least to store it up in vivid detail, so that it can be not lost at all.”
See You Tomorrow tracklist:
1. The Brothers Williams Said
2. On Your Side
3. Movie
4. We Don’t Know How To Say Why
5. St. Francis and the Future
6. At Lake Maureen
7. John As Well
8. This Boat
9. Mary Margaret In Mid-Air
10. Stars That Fall Away From Us
11. I Would Be There