Take for example Friends For Equality, the benefit compilation in support of Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLU and Planned Parenthood put together by Nancy Kells and Fox Food Records. Collecting the talents of 42 acts, the release features a diverse range of unreleased tracks from all over the world, including WTD favs such as Henry Demos, Henoheno, PAT MOON, Rainwater, Francie Cool, Lewtrakimou, Slumbers and Monarch Mtn, not to mention songs from the creators themselves in the form of Spartan Jet-Plex and Good Good Blood. As you might expect, it’s also a great way to discover new artists, and while there are too many to write about properly, there’s enough variation in style and genre to ensure every music fan will find something to their liking.

Not content with the compilation, Nancy is organising a benefit show at Strange Matter in Richmond, VA on the 17th February, and working to put together a zine for which the theme is “social justice/civil rights – so anything related to that – drawings, photographs, comics, editorials, poetry, short story, etc.” Submissions are currently open until the 2nd January, so email spartanjetplex@gmail.com if you want to participate or help in any way.

You can buy Friends For Equality now via Bandcamp, and be sure to remember that the $5 price tag is a minimum suggestion (and impossibly generous for 42 tracks). Equally, if you don’t have cash to spare, you can help by spreading the word or getting involved (just contact Spartan Jet-Plex via the email address provided above).

Artwork by Ryan McCardle

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‘Anju’ begins with some softly pealing guitar and gentle sleigh bell percussion, before slipping into the smooth and slinky indie pop that Slumbers have made their own. ‘TFIM’ stands for “thanks for inviting me”, and is a song about going to parties but not exactly being the life and soul of them.

“Saw you walking home the other day
and looked the other way
of course I wanted to say hi
but I’m too damn shy”

‘Stay Hidden’ stirs some dreaminess through indie pop, telling the tale of crippling worry and self-doubt. The song has a surprisingly catchy chorus, considering its subject matter, with the repeated harmonized line “Anxiety takes over me I wanna leave”.

‘Doboom Soon’ opens with, “Laying in bed, feel like I’m dead, don’t want to get up and go out”, the perfect start to what proves to be a bummed-out bedroom pop song in the vein of Cyberbully Mom Club, while ‘Battle is a sweetly sad song about that all-too-familiar anxiety that affects much of privileged western society.

“It feels like I’m
in a constant battle with my mind
just to stay sane and to stay happy
whatever happy is”

‘Fuzzy’ is a slight change of pace, dominated by quivering keys until the onset of percussion around the minute mark. It almost sounds like a twenty-first century update of Mountain Man’s sparse group harmony folk. Closing track ‘Milkshakes’ returns to guitar-led indie pop, a song imbued with a sense of lazy but heartfelt apathy (as captured in the nicely-phrased chorus: “Didn’t look like I was shaking but I could barely light a match / it doesn’t matter anyway the fire won’t last”). The final song also contains a line that sums up the whole Slumbers ethos in just a handful of words.

“I’d rather not be awake
and have to make mistakes
I need a break”

You can get Come Over on cassette via Sports Day Records and as a digital download from the Slumbers Bandcamp page.

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