A Song is Way Above the Lawn

Album review

On 2004's Now the Day Is Over, Karen Peris applied her gentle, bittersweet musical identity to a set of family-friendly covers as part of her and her husband's long-running group the Innocence Mission. It included lullaby-minded songs such as "Stay Awake" from Mary Poppins, "What a Wonderful World," and "Over the Rainbow," alongside a handful of classical and traditional pieces. Nearly two decades later, the solo album A Song Is Way Above the Lawn revisits this idea on ten original songs presented as a children's collection. To the benefit of children and adults alike, however, the album speaks to listeners of all ages, as it rarely if ever condescends while delving into relatable topics like personal heroes, outings, and taking in the natural world. Typical of the album's deceptively efficient arrangements, opener "Superhero" is a dreamy, wistful, piano-centric song with a light rhythm section and strings under Peris' famously wispy voice. Its appreciative lyrics include the lines, "I see the way you are so kind/To everyone you come by." Later, the title track, which describes hearing music from across a yard, features beautifully complex chords that play a lot more like a Carole King classic than like preschool fodder. Even a song with a title like "For a Giraffe" puts a thoughtful, romantic spin on imagining being able to ride the animal. It both reviews the day's schedule and notes surroundings in the process ("Talking about small things/Listening to peaceful skies"). While every song here is touching and feels worthwhile, booklovers will be especially drawn to "To the Library," whose accordion and broken piano chords underscore a trip to the library to see friends ("I'm not alone"). Other instruments on the quiet album include guitars, melodica, and pump organ. A family affair, upright bass and drum kit are performed by the aforementioned Don Peris, whose contributions include the softly swinging "This Is a Song in Wintertime," and their children, Drew and Anna, provide the occasional violin and viola. Almost like an antidote to programmed, singalong kidz pop, A Song Is Way Above the Lawn feels restorative and may even leave some misty-eyed.

© Marcy Donelson /TiVo