Karen Peris - The secret joys of everyday life

On the occasion of her second solo album, titled “A Song Is Way Above The Lawn”, we spoke with Karen Peris, the longtime voice and songwriter of Innocence Mission. Nine years separate this record from her previous solo effort, “Violet”. We therefore asked the singer-songwriter what pushed her to release these new songs now, and where she found inspiration while writing them. Amid sudden wonders and emotions, a poetics of the everyday and the secret songs of elephants, Karen never seems to tire of trying to write new verses capable of accompanying anyone who listens to her through the mysteries of existence, in search of answers or of some poetic, joyful consolation.

Hi Karen, how are you? Congratulations on your album “A Song Is Way Above The Lawn”. Are you happy that it's out now and available for everyone to listen to?

Hi! It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you! Yes, it was wonderful to be able to release the album. Some time passed between the end of the recordings and the release date, but that was fine too, because it gave me time to draw the animated videos for a couple of the songs. I threw myself completely into that process too, and I enjoyed it a lot.

The songs on “A Song Is Way Above The Lawn” took a relatively long time to come together: I read that some of them date back as far as seven years ago. What made you decide to release them now?

I think I'm just slow at gathering songs that stay with me in some way, and that, in this case, really felt like they belonged to the record. I write every day, but most of my thoughts don't stick around long enough to get recorded.

How does this solo work differ from its predecessor? Did you work in a similar way? For instance, what stands out already on first listen is the absence of instrumental tracks, which were instead a central feature on "Violet"...

A pianistic atmosphere runs through both albums, but with "Violet" I was reaching toward the love I feel for certain solo-piano records made by other artists, and the album took shape that way. I wanted to try doing something in that artistic direction, and I immersed myself in trying to communicate something through piano alone. It can be a relief to do without words sometimes.

How do you differentiate the lyrics for a solo album from what you write for Innocence Mission? What makes these new ten songs feel "uniquely Karen Peris" to you?

This was a particular kind of album. In my head it was a whole world of its own to step into, and it feels right to me that a record should have its own atmosphere, since I love that quality in my favorite albums by other musicians. The piano creates its own particular atmosphere and takes up a lot of space, not leaving much room for other instruments. That's why I try not to put too many piano-based songs on our band's albums, just one or two. But I think there was generally more freedom in writing these songs, since they began connecting to each other through a sense of wonder. That wonder you feel about being alive, and about the big emotions we often feel in the smallest moments of the day. And then there's also the desire to try to express these big, inexpressible things, and the joy in that impulse, even when we feel unable to find the right words or colors to capture and articulate something that matters so much to us. So the material to build the record around felt endless, like uncharted territory, since I also wanted to write about childhood experiences, without drawing a sharp line between the realm of childhood and that of adulthood. And if a child were to listen to these songs, I wanted to try to create something for them that might have a visual quality, like being read aloud to. I actually love working on illustrations, and I was really immersed in that for a while.

In my three favorite songs from "A Song Is Way Above The Lawn," your son Drew and your daughter Anna play violin and viola respectively. How do collaborations with them usually start? Do you and Don play with them often?

I love their presence on those songs, and it felt very right that they could be part of this album, since it's partly an extension of the years we spent reading aloud together, taking walks, talking about the names of trees and birds, and drawing together... those years, really, when the inner world of imagination was so vivid and captivating. Both Anna and Drew have a great ear and great timing, so recording was really simple: I'd sing them the parts, hit "record," and it was all done in a flash. Having a real string section on those songs is wonderful, but even more so because I wrote them partly thinking of things I could imagine us daydreaming about together. And then, in the case of "Superhero," it's really a love song for them and for Don, praising kindness as the essential virtue.

I read that an NPR interview with a zoologist working in elephant research inspired you to write the beautiful track "I Would Sing Along." What did you find so fascinating about that interview? How did you translate those ideas into your music?

She was an elderly scientist, very sweet and joyful. She's a bioacoustics researcher who did pioneering studies on whale songs and then began studying elephants. She discovered that near elephants, if you listen closely, you can hear these low, almost subsonic sounds, like a kind of singing. And I found out, in the days after hearing the interview, that I was already writing about this very idea of listening to something that's almost beyond the range of hearing. I think I also liked thinking about the role of someone very quiet and still, listening in a noisy world. In a way it's important for me to be able to *see* the song, and with this track the central image is of someone listening from an apartment high above a city, during one of those rosy evening hours. This someone strains to listen for something wonderful, hoping maybe to hear an elephant sing. There's a strong sense of solitude in it, but I don't think it's sad. It's more a sense of possibility, a thought about the mysterious beauty of the world.

In the delicate "This Is A Song In Wintertime" you sing about a situation where you find yourself waiting in line outside a cinema, before a screening starts. I like how you turned a moment that's usually not particularly exciting into an experience capable of connecting the people sharing it. Can you tell us more about this song?

I haven't experienced that exact moment, but there are similar ones in my memory. I think they happened especially when we were far from home and everyone we met was a fellow traveler. But these are moments that can also happen at the supermarket, anywhere, and when strangers start talking to one another, it makes me very happy. As for this song: one of my favorite albums is Vince Guaraldi's "A Charlie Brown Christmas," and I think in my mind I connect that piano to snow and winter.

Your poetry pays special attention to small things, to everyday life, to sudden secret joys. Do you draw on your personal experience, or do you try instead to distance yourself from your own life while writing?

I like your phrase "sudden secret joys." Yes, there's so much to want to respond to, almost every moment, in every aspect of our lives. Isn't that so? I always feel grateful for poetry and music, which offer me ways to try to communicate the inexpressible and help me reflect on the mysteries of existing. The songs aren't distant from me, in fact I feel very close to them, but at the same time they're not made up of diary excerpts either. The impact poetry has had on me as a reader also has to do with the space around each word, and with the visual quality that comes from placing a few words next to each other, rather than using many. Two words placed side by side can be like a little film projector. And loving that mystery, I try to repeat that effect when I write, and I always hope to capture a connection that someone else will find familiar or full of meaning.

I don't think it's too late to talk about your latest album as Innocence Mission, "See You Tomorrow," released in January 2020. What was particularly special and unique about the writing and recording process for this album?

"See You Tomorrow" has a lot to do with communication, with the desire to take part in a conversation, even when that conversation consists of being at a loss for words. And then it's about the changes that can happen in a family's life, the difficulty of change, and the future looming ahead. I feel especially connected to that record. Music and lyrics became even more essential to me while we were writing it, and I felt a lot of joy working on the arrangements and recording them.

Could you share some details with us about the songs “The Brothers Williams Said” and “On Your Side”? I love those songs…

Oh, that makes me really happy. “The Brothers Williams” is about the sense of being misunderstood or labeled that sometimes happens to people who have a very quiet and reserved nature, especially during school years. So there's a certain shadow of sadness in it, but repeating the words “see you tomorrow” gives me a sense of hope: it suggests that conversations can always go better next time, and perhaps, as a phrase in itself, it suggests a whole world of better possibilities.

“On Your Side”, on the other hand, is partly a song for my mother, who is no longer with us and whom I miss every day. It explores the thought that she's still with me, and it also wants to reassure the people I love with that same steady love. But it also wants to tell every listener that life is sometimes hard, and that sometimes I feel like I don't quite know what I'm doing, and that I can have a lot of anxieties. Isn't that familiar to all of us? And so my heart goes out to everyone.

Thank you so much for giving us this interview. We're always so happy to be able to hear your new songs. Take care and see you soon!

(December 2021)

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