Misery , Comfort, and Innocence
I have been on an Innocence Mission kick on Pandora the last couple of days. Innocence Mission is a Lancaster band that has been around for two decades and enjoys critical acclaim and a popular following both inside and outside of the county. I am much prouder of the export of their music than other Lancaster County indigenous products like Shoo Fly Pie. The flies can keep the pie for all I care...I won't be doing any shooing to protect the precious...the winged creatures are right where they belong.
I first saw The Innocence Mission perform at the old Chameleon Club on North Christian Street over twenty years ago. The voice of Karen Peris mesmerized me by its pristine beauty. Like crystal, it was clear and fragile...innocent. It is good to know that her voice and the band retains such qualities. The fresh innocence of youth can become the burning cigarette-like scratchy cynicism of mid-life which then becomes the butts of bitterness ash of old age.
Pandora operates on a principle called the musical genome. When the listener identifies a band that he or she likes, Pandora will play that band's songs along with other artists that are musical relatives. The station does not charge a fee but it is premised on the idea that exposing a listener to such music will entice some to purchase the music they hear. I suppose it is a good model because the box of Pandora has not closed yet. The listener cannot dictate what songs specifically are listened to like a Juke Box. Instead, the songs are disbursed diversely by the inexorable logic of the genome.
My Innocence Mission musical genome brought forth an artist and song that I had never heard of before. The artist's name is Deb Talan and her song played on Pandora was a tune called "Comfort." There is a haunting lyric line where she sings that there is "no one left to tell your problems to" and she offers to be that person who will listen.
It is a beautiful song....innocent. Give it a listen.
I first saw The Innocence Mission perform at the old Chameleon Club on North Christian Street over twenty years ago. The voice of Karen Peris mesmerized me by its pristine beauty. Like crystal, it was clear and fragile...innocent. It is good to know that her voice and the band retains such qualities. The fresh innocence of youth can become the burning cigarette-like scratchy cynicism of mid-life which then becomes the butts of bitterness ash of old age.
Pandora operates on a principle called the musical genome. When the listener identifies a band that he or she likes, Pandora will play that band's songs along with other artists that are musical relatives. The station does not charge a fee but it is premised on the idea that exposing a listener to such music will entice some to purchase the music they hear. I suppose it is a good model because the box of Pandora has not closed yet. The listener cannot dictate what songs specifically are listened to like a Juke Box. Instead, the songs are disbursed diversely by the inexorable logic of the genome.
My Innocence Mission musical genome brought forth an artist and song that I had never heard of before. The artist's name is Deb Talan and her song played on Pandora was a tune called "Comfort." There is a haunting lyric line where she sings that there is "no one left to tell your problems to" and she offers to be that person who will listen.
It is a beautiful song....innocent. Give it a listen.
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