Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based alt-folk outfit The Innocence Mission have announced their new album Midwinter Swimmers, which arrives on November 29 via Therese/Bella Union.

The Innocence Mission was formed by Karen Peris, Karen's husband Don Peris, and Mike Bitts. The first song revealed for Midwinter Swimmers is called "This Thread Is A Green Street", and it's as warm, wistful, and benevolent as we've come to know from The Innonence Mission. The video – featuring poignant stop motion animations by Karen Peris – can be enjoyed below:

Karen had the following to say about the song.

"A sort of envisioning the landscape as a world of doorways, that might allow us to locate memory or to be nearer in some way to people we miss. The transportive quality of scenes we might come upon in the natural world, or even in everyday objects – a sewing thread when I’m mending something could remind me of a street map. One of the things about recording it was, how to find this feeling inside the sound, and how to find the half-remembered beauty of sing-alongs of our 1970’s childhoods. There’s a search in recording that goes on being elusive, in a good way.”

The Innocence Mission – despite not having toured for over two decades – have been an influential band spanning over multiple generations. Formed in 1986, the group found an early champion in none other than Joni Mitchell. The band's self-titled debut album was recorded with Mitchell's then-husband Larry Klein and released on A&M Records in 1989. The band didn't achieve mainstream success, but continued to produce critically-acclaimed albums at a leisurely pace. Their music became a notable inspiration for Sufjan Stevens's early work.

Midwinter Swimmers is The Innocence Mission's third album released by Bella Union, following 2020's See You Tomorrow. Preorder the album here.

Tracklist

1. This Thread Is A Green Street
2. Midwinter Swimmers
3. The Camera That Divides The
Coast Of Main
4. John Williams
5. We Would Meet in Center City
6. Your Saturday Picture
7. Cloud To Cloud
8. A Hundred Flowers
9. Orange Of The Westering Sun
10. Sisters And Brothers
11. A Different Day