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Lo-Fi, chamber folk, guitar, indie, piano, Pennsylvania.

Wil je even tot jezelf komen met wat muziek die aanvankelijk vrij toegankelijk is? Ga je gang, maar luister nog een paar keer en je komt weer tot jezelf, maar dan omvat het veel meer. Ik vind het werkelijk adembenemend. Mijn speurtocht naar meer van hen is begonnen. 

The married duo’s 13th album was made to evoke ‘the half-remembered singalongs of our 1970s childhoods’, and is full of rich sensory songwriting

Sufjan Stevens once described his enduring love of Pennsylvania’s the Innocence Mission by explaining that for all his awe at big songs, Broadway musicals and all, he would always return to “small songs which make careful observations about everyday life”. After meeting in a high school play, the band have made a dozen such albums since their 1989 debut, each based around frontwoman Karen Peris’s childlike, otherworldly vocal. On this exquisite 13th studio album, the sparse instrumentation and soft focus, lo-fi production gives the music an affectingly ethereal, distant quality, which the singer-songwriter says is intended to rekindle “the half-remembered beauty of singalongs of our 1970s childhoods”.

Her husband Don’s delicately strummed guitars, Mike Bitts’ gently plucked bass and occasional piano frame songs of indefinable yearning, pitched somewhere between Vashti Bunyan and Galaxie 500. In This Thread Is a Green Street, daily objects operate as a “side doorway” to memories of people lost. The words are audibly informed by literature and poetry. In the title track, the singer compares the imminent arrival of a loved one to “March, with the snowdrops and magnolias”. Orange of the Westering Sun recalls the lily-smelling air when they recorded their first two albums at Joni Mitchell’s house. Other lyrics are less clear, but some phrases leap out: “Let’s go out together dancing” or “Can you meet me?” As with Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser, the words don’t always need to be intelligible when the feeling is enough.

“Always attentive to the poetry of the little things of everyday life, Karen Peris puts color in her songs, like the multiple nuances present in nature that inspires her…simple words worked until they reach a certain truth, tell of hope, expectation, love, gratitude, memory and loss too, often with a spiritual dimension.” RadioFrance.fr

“the innocence mission have always been purveyors of a kind of indie-pop that provides shelter from the cacophony of life. Records like theirs will never stop being needed – they’re trusty friends in sonic form, always there to comfortingly share your sadness. Midwinter Swimmers ranks amongst their finest work.” Shindig / UK – 4 stars ****

“It’s been 35 years since the innocence mission’s debut but time hasn’t eroded the impact of frontwoman Karen Peris’ voice... Like Natalie Merchant, Beach House’s Victoria Legrand or Jessica Pratt, her words glancing against hard or intense emotions... Songs of experience, beautifully realised.” MOJO – 4 stars ****

“With Midwinter Swimmers, the innocence mission continue the trend of creating albums of sparkling clarity and coherent vision. The quality is always unfalteringly high throughout, and the tonal and thematic shifts provide enough progression to make every new album essential. This is no exception.” KLOF mag / UK

Midwinter Swimmers, the trio’s 13th studio album, is one of their most spectacularly beautiful, deserving of mention in the same breath as the classic Befriended (2003) and reminiscent, too, of the earlier Small Planes(2001)…luxuriating in familiar sonic spaces made new with greater insight and deepened affection.” thelineofbestfit.com

“Midwinter Swimmers’ is an intimate gem. There are no wasted notes and all the subtle shifts in mood and instrumentation are immaculate. Karen’s voice is distinctive and has an emotive fragility.” Silentradio.co.uk

“The tracks shine in great harmonie and rich timbres. In addition, the songs not only flow quietly, there are always short pauses, spherical-elegic instrumental bridges - which then flow into radiant choruses. And despite the basic sweetness, the production always comes up with little surprises like the guitar pickings reminiscent of Echo & The Bunnymen and the Go-Betweens. "Midwinter swimmers" is an effective antidote against hatred, incitement and discord. It offers a different perspective on autumn and the approaching winter.” Plattentests.de

Tracks:
01. This Thread Is a Green Street
02. Midwinter Swimmers
03. The Camera Divides the Coast of Maine
04. John Williams
05. We Would Meet in Center City
06. Your Saturday Picture
07. Cloud to Cloud
08. A Hundred Flowers
09. Sisters and Brothers
10. Orange of the Westering Sun
11. A Different Day

Staat er compleet op, 10% pars mee gepost. Met zeer veel dank aan de originele poster. Laat af en toe eens weten wat je van het album vindt. Altijd leuk, de mening van anderen. Oh ja, MP3 doe ik niet aan.