Description
We Walked in Song is the seventh full-length album by the American alternative folk/pop band The Innocence Mission, released on Badman Recording Co. in March 2007.
We’re well into June, and the days are constantly getting warmer and brighter. And so it’s as fitting a time as any to be listening to Pennsylvania’s The Innocence Mission. The group has been around since 1986, and have made a career of releasing bright, shimmering folk-inflected pop built around the husband/wife duo of Don and Karen Peris, and their gossamery guitars and cooing vocals, respectively.
Focusing too much on the light, airy elements of their music, though, might lead one to think that The Innocence Mission is all fluff and filigree. Nothing could be further from the truth. Even when singing age-old (and cliched) lullabies, as they did on 2004’s Now The Day Is Over, the group imbues their effortless compositions with a core of simultaneously heart-wrenching and heartwarming beauty.
The same is true on ‘We Walked In Song’. The music is as pretty, graceful, and deft as ever. Karen Peris’ voice might be something of an acquired taste, but once you get past that, it’s the kind of voice you want singing you to sleep. And her simple-yet-poetic and evocative (and sometimes slightly surreal) lyrics bring forth all sorts of longings and nostalgia. Backing her are musical arrangements that seem deceptively simple and plain, built around Don Peris’ graceful, effortless guitar.
When you bring those things together, the result is the sort of music you want to listen to on headphones while walking down streets in full bloom. Or while sitting on the porch as the sun passes the western horizon, sending streamers of gold over the park and through the trees. Or while gazing out the window with a nice cup of tea while a light summer rain mists the lawn.
But it’s also more than that, more than just simply evoking nostalgic memories while you gaze pensively out the window. There’s an undeniable and irresistable undercurrent of melancholy that lies just below the surface, making it impossible to listen to such songs as «The Brotherhood Of Man» or «Love That Boy» without getting a catch in the throat. The album is dedicated to both of Karen’s parents, and that sense of loss and mourning permeates the album.
However, loss and mourning don’t dominate the album. Ruminations on the fragility of human existence are there, to be sure, if only expressed in the fragility of the band’s sound. But the album’s songs continually celebrate those brief moments of connection and relationship, be they between lovers, friends, or total strangers, that seem to beckon towards eternity. Moments that exist in spite of loss and mourning, and that can redeem such things.
During «The Brotherhood Of Man», Karen sings “Waiting at the airport on my suitcase/ A girl traveling from Spain became my sudden friend/ Though I did not learn her name/ And when the subway dimmed/ A stranger lit my way/ This is the brotherhood of man.” And on «Into Brooklyn, Early in The Morning», Karen sings of a “beautiful life, full of grieving”, as if the two are not at all incompatible.
On «Song For Tom», Karen draws strength from simple faith: “You are my friend/ Though words will fail me here again/ The sacraments will lift us/ And we set out in the day again/ Oh you’ll never lose that light/ Though so much is gone.” Those final words strike me as the album’s central theme. We live in a fallen world, wracked by sin and death and guilt and suffering and horror. And yet… there always remains hope and faith and love and the possibility for forgiveness, redemption, and reconciliation, which the surrounding darkness can never snuff out.
And so Karen is able to close the album with words, if not necessarily of celebration, than at least of hope, yearning, and possibility: “If somebody calls to me/ I’m hoping to not fear, not fear to answer/ How will it be?” Like so much of The Innocence Mission’s music, it’s deceptively simple, but pregnant with meaning and beauty that’s worth contemplating. [Jason Morehead, Opus, June 9, 2007]
There is something about records by The Innocence Mission that make them so essential. Don and Karen Paris have mastered the art of crafting warm and cozy soundscapes that play as beautiful soundtracks for rainy, overcast days. ‘We Walked In Song’ is not an innovative album that charts new ground for the band. The record is quite familiar. Delicate acoustic guitars that mysteriously speak an unspoken language of the soul, and Karen’s exquisitely emotive and soft vocals. «Love That Boy» is an immediate and sugary pop song with lovely synth washes and suble hooks. This is probably my new favorite TIM song. All of the songs here were written by Karen. Her way with words is beyong the talents of a songwriter. Karen is a melodic poet with an understated gift. Musically, ‘We Walked In Song’ is inviting, comforting, and delicately textured folk-pop with unlimited accessibility. The gorgeous brightness of «Lake Shore Drive» is a stark contrast to the somber and stunning closer, «My Sisters Return From Ireland», yet all the while there is that unmistakenable sound that is The Innocence Mission. This band will always be important, and records like ‘We Walked In Song’ are why. Karen Paris is queen of folk-pop… and I owe many priceless summer nights to her and her husband. [gtj, The Black & White Magazine, 2007]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/we-walked-in-song/270092446)
CD tracklist:
01. Brotherhood Of Men
02. Happy Birthday
03. Love That Boy
04. Into Brooklyn, Early In The Morning
05. Lake Shore Drive
06. Song For Tom
07. Since I Still Tell You My Every Day
08. A Wave Is Rolling
09. Colors Of The World
10. Over The Moon
11. My Sisters Return From Ireland
Note: Released on both CD and 12-inch vinyl LP by Badman Recording Co. with the vinyl edition featuring “Shooting Star” as a bonus track as well as new cover artwork. The European CD release by Fargo Records features three bonus tracks: “Shooting Star” (Sketch), “Song From Holland”, and “Do You See My Brothers Coming?”. Available at Bandcamp: https://theinnocencemission.bandcamp.com/album/we-walked-in-song
Cover Artwork, Vinyl Edition
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