Looking through a window at the autumn rain. Clouds on a summer's day. These are the things that make me think of the music of The Innocence Mission. They've got that wistful, dreamy sound down to a tee and their album "My Room In The Trees" is chock full of the proof.
Right from the start with "Rain", Karen Peris uses her voice as the brush that paints pictures of a time seemingly far removed from the cold reality that we live in. In a way, this album is a bit like an old Hollywood movie that reinforces old fashioned values and you just know it will all work out in the end. As if to reinforce that very idea ,there are lyrics such as from "God Is Love" – "Rain or shine, this street of mine is golden" but this is no simplistic romanticism set to song for, with the aid of her comrades in arms Don Peris and Mike Bitts, Ms Peris moves ever closer to fairy tales à la Brothers Grimm.
That said, it will be easy for those enchanted by English folk singers like Shelagh McDonald to adapt their ears to this trio's intimate sound. Whilst ethereal is not the best description for these songs – "All The Weather" reminded me stylistically of a Bacharach/David song – that sense of detachment that earnest practitioners of folk in the early seventies excelled at is nonetheless omnipresent.
With much in the way of subtlety and charm to offer, The Innocence Mission will undoubtedly make many new friends with this album.