Karen Peris

★★★★

A Song Is Way Above The Lawn

The Innocence Mission’s backbone celebrates the day-to-day. BELLA UNION. CD/DL/LP

During For A Giraffe, Karen Peris sings of “talking about small things”. It’s a declaration key to the second solo LP by the Innocence Mission mainstay. To The Library describes seeing her friends there. This Is A Song In Wintertime revels in the shared experience of queuing outside a cinema as snowfall begins. In her familiar, seemingly Swedish-accented voice, Pennsylvania’s Peris explores these experiences over a rolling piano (two tracks use acoustic guitar). Accordion, melodica and gentle strings bring colour. What could be a twee exploration of wonder is instead an intense reverie. While stylistically echoing The Brothers Williams Said, opening track on the Innocence Mission’s last album, A Song Is Way Above The Lawn is more spare and – given the presence of her husband and fellow Mission member Don and their children – more personal.