Innocence & Despair

The Langley Schools Music Project captured elementary school children performing covers of soft rock and pop standards in a British Columbia gymnasium during the 1970s, their untrained voices and modest arrangements creating an oddly moving document of innocence meeting adult melancholy. Bar/None Records' reissue of Innocence & Despair resurrects these lo-fi vocal recordings—spare acoustic arrangements, tape hiss, genuine emotion—as a haunting counterpoint to slick studio production. The children’s earnest interpretations of songs about heartbreak and longing feel simultaneously naive and devastatingly aware, making this essential listening for those drawn to outsider music and folk authenticity.