The Innocence Mission reviewed
The Innocence Mission
We Walked In Song
(Badman)
Had We Walked In Song, based on the title, been placed in the wrong bin at Borders during Black History Month, it would have bummed out a lot of well-intentioned listeners.
Far from a reference to courageous men and women marching into blasting firehoses in 1960s Alabama while singing hymns, Song is the latest in a string of downtrodden recordings from The Innocence Mission. Karen Peris, unsettled by her father’s death, wraps each syllable in melancholy, while she and her bandmates recast bossa nova as the perfect suicide soundtrack.
It opens bright-eyed enough; “Brotherhood Of Man” locksteps with the title and advocates moving forward even in the light of tragedy. Her sweet intonation of “I miss my dad” is casual enough not to be sentimental, yet perfectly placed to draw attention. “Happy Birthday” too has the highest of aspirations, scuppering fears of the future and wishing “balloons go up in town/ring out every bell.” But slowly Song watches darkness settle for a funeral (“Into Brooklyn, Early In The Morning”), the smothering of “A Wave Is Rolling,” and ends with Peris imagining her sisters in Ireland, but can’t end the daydream without fear creeping in. It doesn’t sound so much like walking in song as it does like hiding.
— Steve Forstneger
Click here to download “Today In Brooklyn, Early In The Morning.”
