Innocence Mission - A domestic liturgy

After years of listening to her voice and her songs, it's a thrilling moment to be able to talk with Karen Peris, to put into writing that “conversation” she imagines having with her listeners. There are so many questions worth asking, many that will remain unspoken, but first of all it's only right to talk about the latest album by The Innocence Mission, yet another testament to hope and love for one's neighbor.

I think “Hello I Feel The Same” represents a crucial step in a process of subtraction regarding the arrangement of your songs. Your music is now made of tiny, almost silent movements that express a sense of deep intimacy. Do you agree with this analysis? Is it a good way to define the Innocence Mission sound at this point in your career, or would you point to something else among the distinctive features of this record?

I'm glad you feel a sense of space in the recordings. As for expressing intimacy, it's important to us that the songs matter to other people listening, that they not simply be confessions. My hope in writing songs is that it's like entering into conversation with other people. Maybe, I hope, having enough space in the music leaves a little room for the listener's own thoughts.

Would you like to tell us something about the album's title? It seems to convey a certain joy about aspects of one's own identity that can't be changed, or that perhaps need to remain unchanged.

I think I understand what you mean, but for me the title speaks to what might be universal, or connected. Hello, I feel just like you do. We're in the world together. This is partly in response to some letters I've received, but it was meant to be, I hope, an exchange of understanding, about what can be difficult in life, but also about what is beautiful in it.

To us, the sequence “Tom On The Boulevard”–“Washington Field Trip” represents one of the most intense moments in your entire discography. Can you tell us something about how these songs came about?

“Washington Field Trip” was written over a period of four years – I'm not sure why it took so long. For a long time it was just one verse with a few images – standing in front of the Capitol building, a school trip. Then, when I first heard that Pope Francis was coming to the United States, I started thinking about the girl in the song taking a trip to see him in Washington. It made me happy to be able to sing the name “Francesco” in the song. It felt like something I really wanted to record, so I kept trying to write it. At some point, the cherry blossoms arrived – my mom loved going to Washington to see them every year, and I tried many times to write about them, and about the blossoms on the trees that stick to your shoes, getting carried away like that. So, this is maybe an odd combination of images, but the blossoms from the trees became a connection to the good intentions that we carry with us and pass on, the need to be useful.

“Tom On The Boulevard” is for my son and his first friend – they're both 17 now and have to make decisions about college, about their future. This is a subject that has occupied my thoughts a great deal in recent years, and at least a few of the songs on the record come from major changes in life, and how difficult it can be for any of us to go through them – and also, what good things come from change, like appreciating the preciousness of life, especially of the people dearest to us.

I admire Emily Dickinson, but I don't know her work as well as I should. Some poets I read a lot are Pablo Neruda, Kristina Ehin, Li Young Lee, Elizabeth Bishop, Gerard Manley Hopkins. Even though some of Neruda's poems are difficult, I always go back to them. You mention wonder, and that's the feeling I appreciate most in his poems. Reading always makes me so excited about words. Similarly, listening to Tracy Ann Campbell (Camera Obscura) always makes me want to sing. Tom Rosenthal, Yann Tiersen, Sufjan and also Jose Gonzales are sources of inspiration. And an older album, “Colour Green” by Sybelle Baier, was very motivating and liberating for me – Don discovered it and bought it for me right around the time I was starting to write “Hello I Feel The Same”.

Allow us to talk a bit about your career, we're really excited about the idea of talking to you. I imagine some of the empathy we feel toward your music comes from the audible synergy between you and Don – so we wanted to ask you a more personal question, if you don't mind. Can you tell us how you two met, how you fell in love?

We met in high school, while working on the school play, "Godspell". The first time I saw Don was at rehearsals, when I turned around to see who was playing guitar so perfectly, at the start of the song "Day By Day" – it was him! In a way, we grew up together. I'm so grateful for him, he's the best person I know.

Looking back over your career, we noticed a kind of blossoming in your music, songwriting and sound, which we placed around the release of "Glow". Do you agree, and if so, what brought about the emergence of a stronger identity?

I was very young (a teenager or barely in my twenties) when I wrote the first two records, and I really wish I'd been able to see and hear more clearly back then, instead of singing like someone else, so that my singing sounds somewhat affected, and my songs aren't quite what they should have been. I wish I'd done much better. For us, the records starting with "Birds Of My Neighborhood" are the ones we feel close to.

Also, even though we love your recent work, we have a soft spot for "Birds Of My Neighborhood". Aside from "Now The Day Is Over" (which is explicitly a collection of lullabies) and your solo records, it's probably your most intimate release. It's truly a magical record, one that always manages to move me and cast a spell over me, with its snowy, windswept landscapes. Can you tell us something about the genesis of that record?

I'm really happy about your thoughts on "Birds Of My Neighborhood". It was the first album we made entirely by ourselves (even though it was still for a bigger label, RCA). Some of the songs, like "Lakes Of Canada", were written right after we got back home from the whole tour we did for "Glow", but it took a number of years to finish the album, and in that span of time we moved from our studio in the city (no heating, very cold) to the attic of our house (also very cold!) and finally to a more permanent studio that my father helped Don build. The most important thing, at least as far as the songs go, is that I was writing a lot about our desire to have children, the difficulty and the hope of doing so. Then, when we realized our first child was finally on the way, the joy, mixed with the fear that something might go wrong, became a similar source of inspiration for writing. So that was the period behind that record.

One connection I find with artists today is with Sufjan Stevens, who also covered "Lakes Of Canada", and has spoken about it. I feel an even more pronounced and deeper connection with his latest record, "Carrie & Lowell". Do you know him personally?

We've worked with Sufjan a couple of times. He came and sang with us at a show in New York shortly before Christmas a few years back, and we sang together on an album by our friend Denison Witmer, which Don was recording. He was kind to us. We admire his music so much, it's always so moving and engaging.

It's hard to compare your music to anyone else's, but if I had to, I'd point to Mark Kozelek, even though your background, your "message" is obviously different – but he expresses a spirituality, and does so in a way that I can't help but relate to you. I'd go so far as to say he's a bit like your black sheep counterpart. Do you agree? What do you think of his more recent releases?

I still remember when I first listened to Red House Painters. We loved the roller coaster album and listened to it often, and we're also fans of one of Mark's more recent records, "Admiral Fell Promises", which is beautiful. We met briefly, mostly because we both contributed to a John Denver tribute album some years ago. I think I understand what you mean by that connection.

As a last topic, I'd like to talk about your live activity, which seems quite limited and/or localized at the moment. Is that purely for logistical or family reasons, or is it also because you're just not that interested in it anymore? What are the hopes of seeing you play in Europe?

We actually stopped playing shows when our children were young, because it felt like too much of a disruption to our family routine, and we didn't want to be away from them. Also, I think I'd feel like a much less peaceful mother if I had show anxiety weighing on me. Then, in recent years my voice has deteriorated to the point that it doesn't let me sing for long stretches of time, which is what shows require. But I'm grateful it's enough for writing and recording, and I'm trying to build back some strength to sing for longer. I really miss the sense of communion that comes with playing shows, I miss being with people. We'd love to visit Italy one day, it's a dream of ours.

Thank you so much for these thoughtful questions and kind words.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google