The Innocence Mission: My Room In The Trees

Karen and Don Peris have been making fragile folk-pop as The Innocence Mission for more than 20 years—from the era of The Sundays to the era of The Clientele—and though it isn’t in their nature to make radical creative departures, neither is it in their nature to deliver anything less than polished, likeable, frequently arresting albums. My Room In The Trees isn’t appreciably different from 2007’s very good We Walked In Song (it even has a similar picture-book cover design), and it isn’t the kind of record that’ll overwhelm anyone with its invention. Instead, The Innocence Mission is at its best with a song like “Spring,” which relies on softly rippling guitars, a low piano plunk, and Karen Peris’ cracking voice to evoke the feeling of raindrops on a pond. The Perises add traces of strings or percussion here or there, but for the most part, they’re all about doing more with less, and letting faint echoes and whispers lead listeners into the alluringly calm world of The Innocence Mission, where every shady spot on the grass is its own wonderland.