Everything's different now...everything, even the sun.

#12 - Glow, The Innocence Mission

This was the first Innocence Mission CD that I owned and it is still my favorite. Although Don and Karen Peris still make beautiful music without the drums, I am attached to the songs which include them. There is never any complex rhythm, they just keep the beat and add a bit of wakefulness to their sleepy style. (I also love the sleepy style) This is even personified in the lyrics of the first song, Keeping Awake - "Oh, I'm near to sleeping but I'm keeping awake." (This line is followed by Cougar's favorite imitation of them, "Hearing your voice in the house...") I also enjoy the way the tempo affects Don's slide guitar. It is always dreamy, but in these songs, it is lively somehow. This is quite unique for slide which is usually lazy.

For the few short months in which Sandra Lou performed, we had several people make comparisons between us and The Innocence Mission. I think they were referring to the sound of this album. To me, this was one of the greatest compliments anyone could have given us.



#11 - Wilderness, Archer Prewitt

This one came out of nowhere. I had heard of, but never listened to The Sea and Cake. Then I heard a few selections from this album online and I was hooked. We purchased this while I was pregnant and I feel like it was the soundtrack of our lives for those 9 months. The opening track, "Way of the Sun", is one of my favorites. No one else could pull off an "Ave Maria" in a pop song. The lyrics include honest, thoughtful critiques of humanity , "No one seeks a victim like a man...taking all that's precious from the land.", mixed with love songs that are too cool to be love songs, "I liked the way she was shy. Walking around with the sun in her eyes." Although it is mostly acoustic, he adds enough flair to keep me interested. The drums come in at just the right time, the organ plays a few chords to fill the empty space, the slide guitar is haunting...simple, yet beautiful. I'm not sure if its nostalgia (remembering my former life) or pure appreciation of it, but I am in love with this album.