Thirteen years after recording their debut, The Innocence Mission remains an island of calm, a beacon of hope in a post-Littleton world. From the quiet city of Lancaster PA, the three members of The Innocence Mission make their music, all of it exalting love and friendship, peace and joy. Now, group founders and songwriters Don and Karen Peris (guitarist/vocalist and singer/guitarist/pianist respectively), along with bassist Mike Bitts, have hand-crafted their fourth album, Birds Of My Neighborhood, an astonishing flight of fancy that speaks to the better angels in us all.

In many ways Birds Of My Neighborhood marks a major transition in the life of the group, and especially in the lives of Karen and Don. The songs were written and recorded during the last years of an agonizing period of childlessness, while the couple longed to start a family, and then as Karen was pregnant with their son. Throughout, the album conveys the conflicting emotions of longing, sorrow, anticipation, and boundless happiness. "Sometimes with songs there is a longing to express what is inexpressible, the joyful and sorrowful mysteries of being alive," Karen says. "And to say how hope illuminates the darker days."

Musically, the songs on Birds Of My Neighborhood reflect the main influences on Don and Karen, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, and other pioneers of 60's folk rock. "We've been so affected by their music," notes Karen, who wrote most of the album's twelve tracks. "I think we're drawn to sparse song arrangements in part because we've loved their records so much." Adds Don, "As time goes by, we find ourselves mostly listening to the records we first heard when we were growing up. We've carried records like Neil Young's After The Gold Rush , Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits , and Judy Collins' Colours with us through the years. The sounds of these records are pure, and because of this the songs are so deeply felt. I turn to these records time and again, not only for the songs but also as something to strive for in recording and mixing."

Birds Of My Neighborhood, the group's new album on Kneeling Elephant/RCA Records, kicks off with "Where Does The Time Go?," a spirited song of expectation. "Snow" was composed by Karen on the bass guitar, its hushed tones evoking a still, wintry landscape. "It's about being made clean like the snow," says Karen, "about carrying sorrows out of the house and burying them in the snow." The Innocence Mission has never included a cover tune on any album before, but here they turn in a lovely rendition of John Denver's "Follow Me," recorded initially as part of a tribute to the late balladeer. The upbeat "The Lakes of Canada" is about, in part, "moments of sudden joy, and how they glimmer the way fish do in a lake," says Karen. "Sometimes they are hard to keep in sight."

"You Are The Light" was written "out of admiration and love for a gentle-natured friend who was going through a time of anxiety," says Karen. The prayerful "Birdless" contrasts with the sunny "I Haven't Seen This Day Before," which features a guitar rhythm modeled on the playing of Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. The album is named for the birds that appear in this song. Karen explains, "Mourning doves have come to our second story roof, and to the roof of the house I grew up in, every day in memory. I've always been moved to hear them singing, and sometimes I've felt a sort of companionship from them." "She May Turn Around" was inspired by Eudora Welty's classic novel Delta Wedding , while "I Was In The Air" reflects the band's love of hymns. Closing the album is Don's "Green Grass, Red Tree," which resembles Native American poetry. "I like to write about the simple things I see every day," says Don. The same could be said of Karen, who is gifted at finding magic in the commonplace. Her voice has the delicate clarity of spun glass, and the emotion in her songwriting has touched fans and critics everywhere. All three band members hail from Lancaster, near the Amish country of southern Pennsylvania. They met in high school, and quickly began making music together. Though the band missed the 60's, they could be considered honorary baby boomers because of their love of 60's music. Of course, they also developed a passion for contemporary music, from Talk Talk's Laughing Stock album to the Rachel's Music for Egon Schiele .

In 1987 The Innocence Mission signed with A&M Records. Between 1989 and 1995 the band released three acclaimed albums, a 1989 self-titled debut, Umbrella (1991), and Glow (1995) which garnered their greatest critical and commercial success to date. The Village Voice claimed "Glow's subtle attractions prove as memorable as a perfect summer dusk," while Interview praised Karen's "pristine melodies, poetic verse, and lulling voice." The album boasted a top 20 AAA hit with "Bright As Yellow," and tracks were featured on Party of Five , and the soundtrack to the feature film Empire Records . In addition, Don and Karen enjoyed some memorable turns as guest musicians over the years, having worked with such artists as Joni Mitchell, Natalie Merchant and John Hiatt. After the release of Glow the band toured with Natalie Merchant, Emmylou Harris, the Catchers, 16 Horsepower, and others throughout the U.S. and Canada.

The Innocence Mission returned home in the spring of 1996, and that summer began to make recordings of new songs, working at the Keppel Building, a retired candy factory in downtown Lancaster, and at home. "Most of the songs were recorded soon after they were written, something that working at home made possible," says Don. "For us this was a great way to work since songs are often most felt when they're new. We recorded all around the house, in the attic, the dining room, and in the basement among drying laundry, and between cycles of the furnace." Now it's time for Birds Of My Neighborhood to take wing.

• Innocence Mission