Getting their start as teenagers in the late ‘80s in Hershey, PA, The Ocean Blue released their self-titled debut on the famed Sire Records label that launched many of their most beloved bands in the U.S., including the Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen, and the Pretenders. Embraced by alternative radio and MTV, the band quickly made their mark with early singles “Between Something And Nothing,” “Drifting, Falling” and “Ballerina Out of Control,” each Top Ten hits on U.S. college and Billboard’s Modern Rock Radio charts. Early success set in motion a run of four major label albums— The Ocean Blue (1989 Sire), Cerulean (1991 Sire), Beneath the Rhythm and Sound (1993 Sire), and See The Ocean Blue (1996 Mercury). The band continued with string of independent releases in the 2000s, including Davy Jones Locker (2000 March), Waterworks (2003 W.A.R.), Ultramarine (2013 Korda) and Kings and Queens/Knaves and Thieves (2019 Korda). With eight albums and several EPs under their belt, the band continues to perform and record around the world, with work underway on a new album, and shows in cities throughout the U.S. in 2025.
For listeners of the innocence mission, the Lancaster, Pennsylvania trio are beyond a favourite band, more like a beloved companion, such is their intensity and fragility of their sound and vision, spearheaded by Karen Peris’ heartbreaking, breathtaking voice. Those fans include Sufjan Stevens and Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), who have both covered innocence mission songs, and in whose company the trio deserve to be bracketed.1999’s Birds Of My Neighborhood kickstarted the innocence mission as we know them today, following three albums as a quartet that drew comparisons to The Sundays and 10,000 Maniacs. But when drummer Steve Brown left to become a chef, Karen Peris (guitars, piano, pump organ, accordion, voice), husband Don (guitars, drums, voice) and Mike Bitts (upright bass) forged ahead with an orchestral, at times cinematic, folk pop sound which they felt was truer to their real nature in any case, a sound rich in atmosphere, innately sad, but ultimately hopeful.
Sufjan Stevens is a singer, songwriter and composer currently living in New York. His preoccupation with epic concepts has motivated two state records (Michigan and Illinois), a collection of sacred and biblical songs (Seven Swans), an electronic album for the animals of the Chinese zodiac (Enjoy Your Rabbit), a full length partly inspired by the outsider artist Royal Robertson (The Age of Adz), a masterwork memorializing and investigating his relationship with his late mother (Carrie & Lowell), and two Christmas box sets (Songs for Christmas, vol. 1-5 and Silver & Gold, vol. 6-10). In 2020 he shared Aporia, a collaborative new age album made with his stepfather Lowell Brams, and his eighth studio album The Ascension, a reflection on the state of humanity in freefall and a call for total transformation of consciousness. In early 2021 he released Convocations, a five-volume, two and a half hour requiem mass for present times, and then A Beginner’s Mind, a collaboration with singer-songwriter Angelo De Augustine featuring songs inspired in part by popular films. In October 2023, Stevens released his tenth solo studio project, Javelin, which pairs musical sweep with emotional breadth in a way only Stevens can, weaving an entire lifetime of feeling into 42-minutes.
The members of the Ocean Blue first met in junior high school. They cut a series of demos while in high school, with Scott Stouffer sitting in on drums. They managed to get two of these earliest recordings, "On Growing Up" and "Wounds of a Friend", included on a local radio station compilation in late 1986. The compilation also included very early work from noted local artists the Innocence Mission, who were friends and mentors of the Ocean Blue.
"Do You Still Remember" on Davy Jones' Locker (1999) by The Ocean Blue (song recorded by Don Peris; entire album mastered by Don). Don was credited as the mastering engineer for two EPs released by The Ocean Blue: Denmark (2000) and Ayn (2001).
"Do You Still Remember" on Davy Jones' Locker (1999) by The Ocean Blue (song recorded by Don Peris; entire album mastered by Don). Don was credited as the mastering engineer for two EPs released by The Ocean Blue: Denmark (2000) and Ayn (2001).
Korda Records is a Minneapolis based record label cooperative launched in late 2012 by a number of artists including David Schelzel of The Ocean Blue. The label say of The Innocence Mission: "We are proud to have our friends The Innocence Mission a part of Korda and their 2015 release Hello I Feel the Same (Korda 014) on the label. The guys in The Ocean Blue have a long and deep friendship with Don & Karen of The Innocence Mission that goes back to some of each band’s first shows in Pennsylvania and their major label debut records on Sire and A&M."
Don Peris has worked extensively with Lancaster-based singer-songwriter Denison Witmer, and was first credited as an engineer on his debut release, 1995's My Luck, My Love. After buying his first guitar, Denison sought the teachings of Don Peris. Peris, however, ended up playing a much bigger role in Witmer's career later in life. Peris has gone on to produce several of Witmer's albums, including Safe Away (1998) and Are You a Dreamer? (2005), 'Carry The Weight' (2008), as well as the 1999 EP River Bends. He also engineered the LPs Of Sorrow and Joy (2001) and Recovered (2003), and mixed The '80s EP (2000) and Philadelphia Songs (2004). The latter album additionally features background vocals from Karen, on the song "Rock Run". Karen also assisted with production of Are You A Dreamer? The album also featured Sufjan Stevens.
2011's 'The Ones Who Wait' was originally released under the Mono vs Stereo label but was re-released in 2012 by Asthmatic Kitty, the label owned by renowned singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens. Denison's 10th album was self-titled and was again released under the Asthmatic Kitty banner (2013). It was produced by Don and Karen Peris, who also feature on the album. American Foursquare (2020) included “Birds of Virginia” which features Karen and Don Peris. Witmer’s latest album, Anything At All, was released on Asthmatic Kitty Records on February 14 2025 and showcases his enduring collaboration with Sufjan Stevens, who produced the record.
Speaking of his cover of The Innocence Mission's "Lakes of Canada", Stevens said:“I’m in awe of big songs, national anthems, rock opera, the Broadway musical, but what I always come back to, after the din and drum roll, is the small song that makes careful observations about everyday life. This is what makes the music by The Innocence Mission so moving and profound. ‘Lakes of Canada’ creates an environment both terrifying and familiar using sensory language: incandescent bulbs and rowboats are made palpable by careful rhythms, unobtrusive rhyme schemes, and specificity of language.”
When speaking of Karen Peris, it’s clear to see the admiration Stevens holds for her: “What is so remarkable about Karen Peris’ lyrics are the economy of words, concrete nouns - fish, flashlight, laughing man - which come to life with melodies that dance around the scale like sea creatures. Panic and joy, a terrible sense of awe, the dark indentations of memory all come together at once, accompanied by the joyful strum of an acoustic guitar. This is a song in which everyday objects begin to have tremendous meaning.”
Don Peris has worked extensively with Lancaster-based singer-songwriter Denison Witmer, and was first credited as an engineer on his debut release, 1995's My Luck, My Love. After buying his first guitar, Denison sought the teachings of Don Peris. Peris, however, ended up playing a much bigger role in Witmer's career later in life. Peris has gone on to produce several of Witmer's albums, including Safe Away (1998) and Are You a Dreamer? (2005), 'Carry The Weight' (2008), as well as the 1999 EP River Bends. He also engineered the LPs Of Sorrow and Joy (2001) and Recovered (2003), and mixed The '80s EP (2000) and Philadelphia Songs (2004). The latter album additionally features background vocals from Karen, on the song "Rock Run". Karen also assisted with production of Are You A Dreamer? The album also featured Sufjan Stevens.
2011's 'The Ones Who Wait' was originally released under the Mono vs Stereo label but was re-released in 2012 by Asthmatic Kitty, the label owned by renowned singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens. Denison's 10th album was self-titled and was again released under the Asthmatic Kitty banner (2013). It was produced by Don and Karen Peris, who also feature on the album. American Foursquare (2020) included “Birds of Virginia” which features Karen and Don Peris. Witmer’s latest album, Anything At All, was released on Asthmatic Kitty Records on February 14 2025 and showcases his enduring collaboration with Sufjan Stevens, who produced the record.
Speaking of his cover of The Innocence Mission's "Lakes of Canada", Stevens said:“I’m in awe of big songs, national anthems, rock opera, the Broadway musical, but what I always come back to, after the din and drum roll, is the small song that makes careful observations about everyday life. This is what makes the music by The Innocence Mission so moving and profound. ‘Lakes of Canada’ creates an environment both terrifying and familiar using sensory language: incandescent bulbs and rowboats are made palpable by careful rhythms, unobtrusive rhyme schemes, and specificity of language.”
When speaking of Karen Peris, it’s clear to see the admiration Stevens holds for her: “What is so remarkable about Karen Peris’ lyrics are the economy of words, concrete nouns - fish, flashlight, laughing man - which come to life with melodies that dance around the scale like sea creatures. Panic and joy, a terrible sense of awe, the dark indentations of memory all come together at once, accompanied by the joyful strum of an acoustic guitar. This is a song in which everyday objects begin to have tremendous meaning.”
For more on music and faith see my co-authored book 'The Secret Chord'.
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Denison Whitmer - Birds Of Virginia.
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