Sometimes the name of a band says it all. Exuding a childlike sense of joy and wonder, the innocence mission evoke memories and marvel on Midwinter Swimmers. Memories of days long past, and marvel that we live in a world filled with transformative beauty that exists in landscapes often ignored. Theirs is a world brimming with possibilities one can see when the light is right, and hearts are open.
The dream pop landscape of Karen and Don Peris, along with bassist and friend Mike Bitts, conjures visions of times and places existing within a mist of past and present days. Amidst a landscape of guitars, ‘Midwinter Swimmers’ constructs a world of sadness leavened by joy, stemming from the inability to speak with a lover. “The midwinter swimmers are like stars/ or like some dots of light, through tears.” Heaven and heartbreak exist on planes separated by the slimmest of threads. Though along the way it becomes clearer, “saving up all these things to tell you/ and things to ask, because you/ are not here at this time.” Absence creates a yearning to share even the minutia of the day with those you love.
Vibrations of gentle guitars and soft focused piano fill ‘Cloud to Cloud’ with the giddy moments before passion is rekindled. Wandering through a world filled comprised of groceries and flowers as they carry their guitars, euphoria fills the air. “We sail between the aisles/ We swim between the column of words.” Yet does anyone notice the joy and expectancy of these two lovers in transit. These are the moments we cherish encompassed within a world that often does not notice the small victories of life.
Just like an early Joni Mitchell song, ‘Orange of the Westering Sun’ delineates how the innocence mission have been affected by the people and places they have met along their way. Recalling how these Lancaster, Pennsylvanians traveled to Mitchell’s house to record their first two albums with her then husband Larry Klein, Karen relates, “the air always smelled like lilies so it became Easter-like, which may have been one of the reasons that there was the feeling of being at the start of something.”
‘A Different Day’ concludes an album subdued in pace, yet richly melodic. Containing equal measures of yearning, optimism and goodness in its depiction of love. “And if I walked faster/ I would fly right off the ground/ I would race all the blocks of town/ to you.” To be the person she is racing to feels like a dream come true.
While some might call Midwinter Swimmers a small album, nothing could be further from the truth. With love and optimism at its core, the innocence mission perform the miraculous. From the myriads of moments, they have found the way to stitch together the hopes and dreams that make every day experiences unique.
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