Last January, a cataclysmic earthquake cracked through Haiti, killing hundreds of thousands of people and injuring or displacing millions more; now, nearly 14 months later, the country is still trying to right itself (according to Oxfam reports, only five percent of the rubble has been cleared and just 15 percent of the required temporary housing stock has been built-- which is to say nothing of the vast infrastructural struggles the country continues to face). Collective interests-- even humanitarian ones-- move awfully fast these days (Anderson Cooper has since been dispatched elsewhere), but it seems more important than ever to give Haiti our attention. An overwhelming amount of basic recovery work-- like providing shelter, water, and adequate medical care to survivors-- is still undone.
Here's one way Bonnie "Prince" Billy fans could help: spend $10 on Island Brothers, his new two-song 10" with the Cairo Gang, and your cash will be directed to Edge Outreach, a faith-based Kentucky nonprofit that "trains, equips, and mobilizes ordinary people in sustainable solutions for clean water, health and hygiene, and sanitation" (the funds will specifically bolster the group's relief work in Haiti). The two songs you'll get in exchange-- "Island Brothers" and "New Wonder," both familiar to veterans of Bonnie Prince Billy's last tour-- are rich and scrappy in the spirit of his most recent work (they'd fit easily on The Wonder Show of the World or Beware).
Under various guises, Will Oldham has experimented with a cornucopia of backing bands-- he's teamed with Nashville session musicians (Sings Greatest Palace Music), made a fuss with his two brothers (most of the Palace Music catalogue), and collaborated with Tortoise (The Brave and the Bold), to start. But his work with the Cairo Gang-- which is to say, with the guitarist, singer, and songwriter Emmett Kelly-- has felt like an especially fruitful era, and "Island Brothers" embodies why: Oldham, in his trademark yelp-croon, sings of hard times while Kelly and the rest of the band roll out raucous country-rock riffs, buoyed by swooning vocal harmonies and an occasional horn solo. Oldham might be singing about sadness, but the instrumentation suggests hope, and "Island Brothers" is more about support (and community) than unfettered despair. (Metaphor alert!)
"Island Brothers" meanders to a boisterous conclusion (check the otherworldly howl Oldham emits about 40 seconds from the end), and segues easily into "New Wonder", a comparably staid meditation on the perils of good fortune ("What shall we do about the fact that some things/ Some things are so good that nothing can come after," Oldham sings over guitar and tiny bits of piano and percussion). It's a sparse, contemplative companion piece, and an interesting-- slower, bleaker-- counterpoint to the record's A-side.
Island Brothers includes photographs of Haiti shot by acclaimed New York Times photographer Damon Winter, who documented much of the devastation from Port-au-Prince (his slide shows, which ran online in the weeks following the quake, are still remarkably difficult to click through). But the pictures are an easy reminder-- much like the songs included here-- to hold what you love as close as you can.
