Description
Small Planes, sub-titled Lost and Found Songs: 1996-2001, is the fifth full-length album by the American alternative pop band The Innocence Mission, released on What Are Records? in September 2001. It is an album consisting of previously unreleased tracks recorded during and in-between the Glow and Birds of My Neighborhood sessions.
Whenever artists release loose-ends collections like this, one can’t help but wonder why such fine songs did not originally make it on proper albums in the first place. And although this album cannot be certified a lost treasure, it is, nevertheless, filled with jewels that deserves the light of day only an album release can provide. Not surprisingly, these are singer Karen Peris’ impressionistic thoughts about everyday life experiences, quiet moments of reflection, and the infinite flight routes of the soul – many times with quite colorful lyrical references. On «Song About Traveling», for example, she sings: “The colors of rowboats, the greens and the blues / Orange grove side streets you only see halfway.” For the most part, these lyrical dreamscapes are backed by husband Don Peris’ equally dreamy guitar echoes. Percussion is mostly of the hushes brushes and lightly tapped kind, and occasional organ and piano touches are dropped in for variety’s sak. This disc’s real treat is the closer, «I Have Loved You», which sounds like an old post-Jesus People chorus, as it was written back in 1979. It’s an emotionally touching moment, with its straightforward expression of worship, and provides a nice contrast to the band’s sometimes non-specific lyrics. The Innocence Mission may be a small plane in a world of jet monsters, but even minor offerings such a this fly high. Be sure to catch it whenever mass transit just doesn’t do it for you anymore. [Dan MacIntosh, HM Magazine, Jan/Feb 2002]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/small-planes/5611320)
CD tracklist:
01. Rooftop – 1:56
02. Too Early To Say – 3:20
03. Migration – 4:11
04. Today – 3:41
05. The Girl On My Left – 2:21
06. Song About Traveling – 3:43
07. Oh Do Not Fly Away – 2:47
08. I Left The Grounds – 1:16
09. Some Clear Joy Is Coming – 3:37
10. Small Planes – 4:30
11. I Have Loved You – 3:13
Note: Re-issued on 12-inch vinyl LP by What Are Records? in 2021 pressed on Cobalt Blue vinyl. Available at Bandcamp: https://theinnocencemission.bandcamp.com/album/small-planes-2
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