Over the course of two decades, the Innocence Mission's name has come to feel less like the mere moniker of another earnest late-80s college-rock act and more like an evangelical pursuit for simplicity and propriety, the result of which has been increasingly tranquil records that are practically defiant in their quietude. But it speaks volumes about their direct, affecting songcraft that principals Karen and hubby Don Peris can boast of a past collaborating with Natalie Merchant, soundtracking "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Party of Five" episodes, and writing songs for Amy Grant's Christian catalog, and yet, 18 years after their band's formation, find themselves right at home releasing a string of quality records for an indie label that counts My Morning Jacket and Mark Kozelek as alumnus.
Even by the Innocence Mission's modest standards, We Walked in Song is especially spare in presentation-- we don't hear drums till the final chorus of the fourth track-- but draw from a deep tradition of solitary music: from Appalachian folk and gospel hymns to breezy bossa nova and the third Velvet Underground album. The myriad of regional and historical influences are appropriate analogs for a record that's often consumed by thoughts of travel-- not from a romanticized, escapist point of view, but from the perspective of those left behind.
Beyond giving Karen's peculiar Joni/Newsom coo all the room it needs to soar and sigh, the stark arrangements-- built around Don's dew-drop guitar lines-- make the introduction of each new detail seem all the more purposeful, like the way the Hammond organ gives the third verse of "Brotherhood of Man" an extra nudge toward the finish line, or how the subliminal string arrangements and piano chords lurking in the shadows of "Love That Boy" seem to push Karen's object of affection further out of her reach. When the drums finally appear for the finale of "Into Brooklyn, Early in the Morning", in this album's calming context, the effect is as almost momentous as the opening kick-drum crash of "Be My Baby". But this careful craftsmanship would feel overly precious if these songs didn't possess a pleasing, lived-in familiarity that makes you think you've already internalized them through of a lifetime of AM oldies-radio osmosis.
In their less captivating moments-- which emerge in the album's third quarter-- the Innocence Mission can succumb to a certain folk-circle innocuousness ("A Wave Is Rolling"), but even these more typical turns are adorned with intriguing touches-- like the orchestro-flamenco flourishes on "Over the Moon"-- that enhance We Walked in Song's air of muted majesty. "You'll never lose that light," Karen sings on "Song for Tom", though it could easily be a song for them: a testament to the durable, slow-burn beauty of their work, and their softness of touch-- a light that rarely feels lite.
