Well, this is a nice early Christmas present. I didn't even know about this EP until a week ago (see last wednesday's post), ordered it straight away and received it incredibly quickly considering it was coming from the States.
The Innocence Mission have never given the slightest hint that they are even capable of making a bad record and their last two albums ('We Walked In Song' and 'Befriended') have been utterly beautiful, sad but at the same time full of hope and joy, so I had high hopes for this EP, which contains tracks from their forthcoming new album and other exclusive tracks.
There is nothing new here at all, The Innocence Mission are hardly likely to make a drastic change of direction now. Karen Peris sings beautiful lyrics, always sounding as if she is smiling as she sings and Don Peris still plays with his distinctive, expressive guitar sound. Their songs always sound so fresh and wide eyed. In particular, 'You Draw the Streets of Rome'is gorgeous, layers of guitar, piano and harmony vocals over a simple melody and a lyric about seeing the world anew and "being braver than I am here".
Elsewhere 'From A Homeland' is a classic comforting Innocence Mission song, sounding like it could have been on 'Befriended', with Karen Peris opening it by singing "let's not be restless my darlings". 'A Thousand Miles' is a reworking of an old song and the drums and fast pace make it sound like it would have fitted well on 'Small Planes'. 'Pioneering' is probably my favourite though, piano led and featuring really visual lyrics which seem to provide commentary on a tour of a city; "Oh drive on, drive on".
There are eight tracks in all, three of which are really pretty instrumentals. Sounds like the new album, due next Spring, will be something special again.
As ever, impossibly beautiful.
*****
['Street Map' is out now on cd direct from www.theinnocencemission.com ]
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