The Innocence Mission – See You Tomorrow
Bella Union – 17 January 2020
There’s a moment on The Brothers Williams Said from The Innocence Mission’s new album See You Tomorrow, where everything you know is thrown into a cocked hat. The solemn piano and fragile vocals of Karen Peris are joined with the sounds of an ancient mellotron, drums enter and one realizes that music still has the power to surprise and transfix listeners.
From the basement and dining room of their Lancaster, Pennsylvania home, Karen and Don Peris, along with upright bassist Mike Bitts, have created a genre-bending collection that gently treads folk turf while adding flourishes that go beyond standard folk fare. At any point, this album seems on the verge of shattering to pieces, yet everything from pump organ to timpani only serves to strengthen the music.
Lyrically these songs are poetic,
“The kindness of your face
Does not go unrecognized
Has not refused to shine
In this most difficult time.”
Taken from The Brothers Williams Said, it’s one in an endless series of examples where Karen’s literate words focus on small moments of magic. As she points out, “I’m drawn to titles that are phrases, especially ones that seem to be a fragment from a conversation.”
Counterbalancing the breezy guitar sway of On Your Side, the sampled strings lend seriousness as Karen sings,
“In this house
We are mapping songs on the evening walls
We put many trees
We keep many leaves
On the sidewalks
Some days we are not sure where we’re going
How we will arrive
Some days we don’t know where we have gone
But I’m always on your side.”
The Innocence Mission sings of delicate moments, drawing them out and filling them with relatable colours and shadows. Soft acoustic notes offer a Latin-ish sway as Karen sings of the
“Snow filled-in sky
You want to return
To be loved as much as anyone.”
Don Feris takes the lead on his song, Mary Margaret in Mid-Air. The melodica plays a prominent role in Stars That Fall Away From Us, while Karen sings,
“Far away looking out for a way
Loneliness is a star that we all see.”
Focusing on the world that exists within our own heartbeats, The Innocence Mission has created a disc that finds truth in the connections binding us to each other. See You Tomorrow radiates a sense of love and warmth to help us through moments when those same commodities may be in short supply.
See You Tomorrow is Out Now.