The release will be available via Western Vinyl both digital and on vinyl, including a limited deluxe edition which includes liner notes by 2024 National Book Award winner Jason De León (Soldiers and Kings) and poetry from National Book Critics Circle Award Winner Ross Gay (Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude). Both editions of the vinyl include photography from Pulitzer Foundation Grant Awardee Greg Constantine and cover art by Reena Saini Kallat, which is taken from the series Ruled Paper (red, blue, white) which depicts contested geographies around the world. All proceeds will be shared between two Texas-based organisations, American Gateways and Casa Marianella, who provide all manner of support for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, including food, shelter, access to health care, legal services and other essential things. Plus, on the 4th December, Tim Heidecker will host a live variety show and raffle/auction on his call-in show Office Hours to further support the two organisations.

In preview of the December release, the offerings of Alan Sparhawk and Benjamin Booker have been made available to stream. Both offered statements to explain the context behind the tracks. “Here is a song that came from the struggle to know what to say to someone who is having a hard time,” Sparhawk explains of his song ‘No More Darkness’. “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.”

Fittingly for the compilation’s themes, Booker’s track ‘A Place for Us’ is warm, welcoming and nakedly emotive. Lucid whispered truths over gentle but stark guitar. “The human struggle is a family struggle,” he explains of its ethos. “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 will be released on the 5th December via Western Vinyl and you can pre-order it now.

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Here is a list of songs from 2020 that we liked but didn’t get around to writing about.

If you find something you like, follow the link in the embed to support the artists and labels on Bandcamp. And of course, there is a whole year’s worth of pieces on releases we did manage to write about, so have an explore through our reviews, previews and interviews from 2020.

The post Music We Missed in 2020 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Communion consists of just five (albiet mostly rather lengthy) tracks, each of which could be described using terms such as ambient, drone and post-rock, although such terms do little to convey the emotional heft that the album carries. The album has a tangible substance, a weight, something that Reaume describes as  “a glacial, mountainous, almost monolithic quality that reflected my mood and state of mind.“ For an album recorded in his bedroom, this is no mean feat. Lo-fi bedroom pop this is not. This may be due in part to the help Reaume received from James Plotkin, who mastered the album (having previously worked with bands such as Sunn O))), Isis, Earth and Oneohtrix Point Never).

There are very few conventional lyrics on Communion. The closest thing we get are the vocals on Field Two, but even here the lyrics are abstract and opaque (’I much prefer the truth, ‘cos you know they say we’ll die by the sword’). Some of my favourite vocals on the album come on PTSD, where they have an almost hymnal quality, like some kind of monastic chant, bringing some semblance of peace to an otherwise powerful and lonely record.

For all the grief and pain on display, this is still a very beautiful album. There are occasions where the sonic landscapes feel bleak and desolate, but there are also glimpses of something else. Communion is a very human album, borne out of fear and confusion, but ultimately a testament to inner strength. It takes courage to sit down and record something like this, and it is this spirit which ultimately shines through.

You can buy the album right now as a digital download on the Black Walls Bandcamp page, or on vinyl via Pleasence Records.

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