It’s always nice when charity samplers don’t just throw names together, but the sound is somehow connected to the good cause. Proceeds from PASSAGES go to Texas-based NGOs American Gateways and Casa Marianella, which provide legal services, food, housing and health care to refugees.
And the songs on PASSAGES revolve around the themes of security and comfort. The task: record a song or track in a place that feels like home. The focus is on fragile indie folk. Alan Sparhawk, former singer of the slowcore band Low, fervently proclaims the end of darkness in the first piece and, accompanied by spartan guitar sounds, reminds us of minimum moral standards: “Good is good / Wrong is wrong.”
Benjamin Booker, Lambchop, Bonnie Prince Billy and Heather Woods Broderick each contributed an incredibly fragile song. There are short field recordings between the predominantly touching pieces. Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) contributed strangely beautiful electronics. A very successful album, regardless of the good cause.
This review appears in Musikexpress 1/2026.