Description
Go When the Morning Shineth is the sophomore solo album by the American singer and songwriter Don Peris of The Innocence Mission, released on Jemez Mountain in 2006, an instrumental sub-label of San Francisco’s Badman Recording Co. All songs written by Don Peris except track 9 written by the French composer Maurice Ravel. An instrumental album save tracks 8 and 12, with vocal assistance from Karen Peris and Denison Witmer, respectively.
Don Peris provides vocals and most of the album’s instrumentation playing guitar, cello, keyboards, bass, and drums. Track 4 features Mike Bitts of The Innocence Mission on bass and Hunter Johnson on drums. (Bitts is featured on track 11 as well.)
What is the auditory equivalent of the scent of a garden on a spring morning? What would music sound like if it dripped from a honeycomb?
A music critic can make a complete fool of himself trying to describe the pure beauty, simplicity, and grace of the music made by Don and Karen Peris, otherwise known as The Innocence Mission.
But here I go again, risking humiliation, just to try and catch in words a glimmer of their glow.
Go When the Morning Shineth is Don Peris’s second solo venture, and this one is mostly made of instrumentals, with two songs along the way – one of which features Karen, and in the other he’s joined by Denison Witmer.
From the dreamy «Day Trip», with its rhythm-guitar punctuation and honey-drip guitar plucking, to «Jubilee», in which he provides himself with jazzy drum accompaniment and interweaving layers of loop effects, it’s clear that Peris is feeling a bit more experimental than usual.
The guitar stylings will be familiar to Innocence Mission fans, but the atmospheric effects give some numbers a fresh twist.
«Delaware» is a meditative stroll. «Glimmer», which is perfectly named, will be a favorite for its bright, sprightly step and shuffling drums; you half-expect Paul Simon’s voice to chime in, or Sufjan Stevens with some meditative and nostalgic lyric. Even the voice of John Lennon’s ghost would seem a natural occurrence here. (It’s no wonder that «Julia» is Peris’s favorite song.) In «Recital», his guitar loops wind around cello strains like a vine around strong boughs. And the album just keeps spreading its branches and flowering.
Aw, for cryin’ out loud, there I go again. How do you solve a problem like Don Peris’s guitar playing? Words fail.
But for me, the greatest thrill is to hear Karen’s voice join Don’s, bursting into thrilling song with their impeccable, unmatchable harmonies in «North Atlantic Sand». The duo, whose album Befriended was NPR’s #1 record of 2004, are still one of the most enchanting wonders in popular music when they put their voices together. This song finds them as optimistic and joyful as parents singing to their child can be.
Greener are the hills where you are bound
Kinder is the world where you belong
Your mother and your dad
The North Atlantic Sand
Try to understand how much we love you…In the hands of any other artists, these lyrics would be sticky with sentimentality. But in their hands, they shimmer with sincerity. It’s enough to make you ache with anticipation for their next record, which may be out later this year. I know I said this before, but this music tends to make you think about gardens… especially one garden in particular, from long long ago, which has a name synonymous with longing. [Jeffrey Overstreet, Looking Closer, 2006]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/go-when-the-morning-shineth/146605452)
CD tracklist:
01. Day Trip – 3:23
02. Jubilee – 3:06
03. Delaware – 1:28
04. Glimmer – 3:49
05. Recital – 1:49
06. Ribbon of Highway – 3:09
07. Walnut Street Rectory – 1:50
08. North Atlantic Sand (feat. Karen Peris) – 4:06
09. Ravel Pavane – 2:15
10. Flyer – 3:30
11. Darkness Cannot Overcome the Light – 3:43
12. Young As You Feel (feat. Denison Witmer) – 3:29
13. Blink – 2:03
14. After the Fair – 2:24
Note: Available at Bandcamp: https://theinnocencemission.bandcamp.com/album/go-when-the-morning-shineth
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