Welcome back to “Girls of Christian Indie!” For Day Two, we’ll be looking at Karen Peris and The Innocence Mission.
I first found out about The Innocence Mission from a video of Sufjan Stevens performing their song Lakes of Canada here. I loved the song and decided to find out about the band who first wrote it.
And that band was The Innocence Mission, led by husband-wife duo of Don and Karen Peris, with a touch of drums by Steve Brown and bass by Mike Bitts. All the musicians are really good, but it’s Karen’s vocals that set the band apart from the rest, especially since Steve Brown left the band in 1999, forcing a more acoustic approach to things.
The Innocence Mission started way back in Pennsylvania during the 80s when the members all met each other during a production of Godspell at their Catholic school. So says Wikipedia anyway. Since then, they’ve gone on to produce ten indie folk rock albums covering topics as diverse as life itself. Most of their songs aren’t blunt presentations of the gospel but subtle looks at life from a Christian standpoint. If you want more straightforward stuff, though, they do have an entire album of reworked hymns, called Christ is My Hope.
For a more in-depth look at the band (as well as a discussion of Christian rock) go here, but for some interesting, yet ultimately useless, facts, just scroll down.
Interesting facts about The Innocence Mission:
1) Steve Brown (their drummer) left in 1999 to become a chef
2) Songs from their 1995 album Glow appeared on the soundtrack of Party of Five
3) “Clear to You,” from their 1989 self-titled album, was used as the soundtrack for the pilot episode of Beverly Hills 90210
4) The song “The Prayer of St. Francis” on The Lakes of Canada EP was recorded around their dining room table
5) Members of the band are devoted Catholics and attend Mass regularly
6) The album Now the Day is Over was produced as a CD of children’s lullabyes
Anyway, here’s some songs from Karen Peris and The Innocence Mission:
Happy Birthday
Into Brooklyn, Early in the Morning
Website: www.theinnocencemission.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/theinnocencemissionPA
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October 25, 2007 at 12:07 am
New File Hosting Service, Again « The Blah Blah
[…] file hosting, free, hotlink If you checked out the post on Karen Peris and The Innocence Mission here, then you probably noticed that The Blah Blah has signed up for a new free file hosting service, […]
October 26, 2007 at 7:23 am
Girls of Christian Indie - Day 3: Misty Edwards « The Blah Blah
[…] at… some girls of Christian indie music. We’ve already looked at Lori Chaffer and Karen Peris, so today, to switch it up a little bit, I give you Misty […]
November 3, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Pete Bilderback
Thanks for linking to my blog. Glad you enjoyed the post and discussion. This is a very interesting blog you have here. Good work!
November 8, 2007 at 7:11 am
Girls of Christian Indie - Day 4: The Ragbirds « The Blah Blah
[…] of “Girls of Christian Indie.” Be sure to check out previous posts on Lori Chaffer, Karen Peris, and Misty […]
November 21, 2007 at 8:02 am
Don Peris - Himself « The Blah Blah
[…] Don Peris’ wife Karen in the Girls of Christian Indie series. You can read about her here. Today, in case you haven’t read the title of the post, I’m featuring Don Peris […]