Sunday, December 1, 2024

The Innocence Mission - Midwinter Swimmers

 

The Innocence Mission have been on the go since the late 1980s, and this is their fourteenth album.  The opener This Thread Is A Green Street has gorgeously strummed guitars and Karen Peris singing over it, and it is the guitars on the track that really lift it.  It’s not a million miles away from Mazzy Star, with a dash of Sundays. 

Her singing can be a bit polarising at times, like on the title track, but again the instrumentation really works here, gorgeous guitar and keyboards.  The Camera Divides The Coast of Maine has a gorgeous guitar coda, while on John Williams there is twinkling piano, yet more extraordinary guitar playing and blushingly sunny keyboards.

Your Saturday Picture has another gorgeous guitar figure, as does Sisters and Brothers.  The vaguely countrified A Hundred Flowers has more prominent backing vocals than the rest, and the album finishes with A Different Day, which has more guitar playing to luxuriate in with a little French-sounding twist.  It’s just the little touches here and there that make this album.

You could argue that this album is a bit samey and repetitive, or just accept its consistent sound.  Either way, it’s a gorgeous Sunday morning soundtrack.


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