Led by wife and husband team Karen and Don Peris, The Innocence Mission could be compared to 10,000 Maniacs, having some kind of alternative folk style. Only they weren't as well known and had only one sort of hit, Bright as Yellow. With the exception of a couple of songs, I never liked 10,000 Maniacs as much as I expected, finding the lyrics a overly worthy and earnest and the tunes not particularly memorable.
The Innocence Mission, whose work I somehow stumbled upon a few years ago, seemed at once more musically creative and lyrically enigmatic. It's also typical of me when finding two bands with similar styles to prefer the one that's less popular.
Anyway, they had drifted from my consciousness until hearing Karen Peris singing a duet with John Hiatt, while revisiting the latter's oeuvre (of which more later in this series I hope), leading me to seek out another album, their 1989 self-titled debut.
For me, the most listenable track was Black Sheep Wall, which I assumed from casual listening was about a reprobate lover, but now I look at the lyrics it seems to be a reflection on parenthood and protective feelings towards a child. Moving and haunting.
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