Western Vinyl has announced a new charity compilation supporting immigrants, refugees, and asylum seeker. The Austin-based label will release Passages: Artists In Solidarity With Immigrants Refugees, and Asylum Seekers on December 5. Two contributions, Alan Sparkhawk’s hauntingly spare ‘No More Darkness’ and Benjamin Booker’s gently melodic ‘A Place for Us’, are out today. Take a listen below.
The benefit comp also features tracks by Dirty Projectors, Oneohtrix Point Never’s Daniel Lopatin, Tim Heidecker, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, William Tyler, Lambchop, Lonnie Holley, and more. Proceeds will be directed to Texas-based organizations American Gateways and Casa Marianella, which provide no-to-low-cost legal services, food, shelter, access to health care, and other essential services to immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.
“Home, as we know it, is under threat,” the album’s producer and organizer Rick Alverson commented. “When immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers exercise their human right to safe passage, they defend our ability to do so — and our right to be and feel at home.”
Sparhawk had this to say about ‘No More Darkness’: “Here is a song that came from the struggle to know what to say to someone who is having a hard time. There are real things that we can do to lift each other out of suffering — sometimes it is tangible charity, like this compilation to raise funds and awareness for the plight of immigrants and those who have been displaced. Sometimes it is words of encouragement. It can also just be time spent with someone who needs help getting through the moment. Let’s do our best to turn up the light.”
Booker added, “The human struggle is a family struggle. We rise together and we suffer together. There are so many things out of our control, but we can always open our hearts to love and understanding. May you find light in the darkness.”
Passages: Artists in Solidarity With Immigrants Refugees, and Asylum Seekers Tracklist:
1. Alan Sparhawk – No More Darkness
2. St. Panther – Everybody Is
3. Daniel Lopatin – Country
4. Benjamin Booker – A Place for Us
5. Lambchop – Afterburner
6. Quin Kirchner – Home [feat. Tekle Mezghebe]
7. Marisa Anderson – No Place to Rest My Head
8. Y La Bamba – Wrong Crowd
9. Lonnie Holley – A Border Is Just a Space Between Two Lines
10. Bonnie Prince Billy – The Autumn Wind (No. 71)
11. Erik Hall – Parallels
12. Dirty Projectors – One Hundred-Twenty Dollar Song
13. William Tyler – 13 Lakes
14. Aisha Burns – All That I Know
15. Anjou – Un Trayecto Largo [feat. I. Nova]
16. Heather Woods Broderick – White Sage
17. Tim Heidecker – Alone Until I’m Home
