Today marks the release of The Innocence Mission‘s new album Midwinter Swimmers via Bella Union, their first studio album in four years. Reviewed here by KLOF Mag’s Thomas Blake, he opens his review:
“The long career of The Innocence Mission has been characterised by a remarkable consistency decorated with subtle shifts of tone and mood. While one album might nod to 60s folk-pop, another will recall dream-pop revivalists Beach House or the deconstructed avant-folk minimalism of Tori and Reiko Kudo. But at the centre of it all is the partnership between Karen and Don Peris, the married couple who, along with old school friend Mike Bitts on bass, have been the beating heart of the band since its formation in 1986.
…The quality has remained unfalteringly high throughout, which is something that can’t be said for many bands with upwards of a dozen albums, and the tonal and thematic shifts provide enough progression to make every new album essential.”
Among the album’s many highlights, he noted the zephyr-like Your Saturday Picture, one of two tracks that provide ‘a soft, oneiric take on 60s West Coast psych-folk’.
The song is also accompanied by a video, illustrated and animated by Karen Peris.
Midwinter Swimmers (29th November 2024) Bella Union
Bandcamp: https://theinnocencemission.bandcamp.com/album/midwinter-swimmers