# 6 Glow

The Innocence Mission (A&M, 1995)

Probably the one and only true 'pop' record on my list this younger album from Karen and Don Peris comes in six notches higher than their Befriended mostly because of time and my nostalgia. Sugar Mama purchased this album before we were together but while we were friends in Bristol, TN. The more we hung out, the more I heard the album; becoming ever more curious of its contents and origins. As I mentioned in my #12, they hail from near Lancaster, PA. Well, all of the myths surrounding that place and its way of life coupled with Sugar coming from PA set up in my mind some idealic pastoral community where people actually lived the stories in these songs. As my list has probably shown, the music I enjoy most is highly personal and that which hopefully (for me) will stand the test of time.

'Keeping Awake' opens the album with a song about Karen not being able to fall asleep because someone (a relative) she loves has come over and she hears them from upstairs. A quarter of these songs reference relatives and family members coming over, going on picnics, taking trips, etc., and while it's not clear who these people are it really doesnt matter. She seems to have a heightened spiritual sense and usually uses nature and the weather as backdrops for many songs. Her anticipation for what each new day can bring and the way in which she wraps those moments into a four minute song is why I like all of it. And Don's guitar is dripping with reverb and wobbling with tremelo the whole way through. They choose to bring Light into the world... and as I allowed myself a 30 sec. listen of a track off their forthcoming album I asked myself how? make music? with children?