Around 6 months ago, as life was starting to get back to normal for many of us. In the background, on TV and when we stopped by a news site, we could see the slow buildup of troops outside Ukraine, and later we saw the full conflict ensue. Seeing all of this so close-up but also so removed via our devices and our social networks was really disorienting. I spent way more time refreshing Reddit’s /r/worldnews threads, as well as more traditional news sites. I walked a lot around the cities in Google Street View, just trying to get a sense of where and what was happening.

Fortunately, during this time I was collaborating with Tim Woodson (of Hevelwood), and the initial song was about exactly that sort of distance from such awful conflict and those involved. We ended up working on a few more together, all about variations of the same theme. Either the weirdness of conflict through a window, or the strange ways we all try to be ‘fine’ during it. Realizing that we had a full EP worth of songs we decided that the most appropriate thing to do with these was to make a benefit album, to try and find ways to better help those who were on the other side of the remote conflict. Those without the luxury of overthinking things at the moment.

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All Songs Written by Josh Kirch and Tim Woodson
Production/Mixing/Mastering by Tim Woodson
Vocals by Tim Woodson and Josh Kirch
Lyrics by Joshua Kirch
Cover Art by Elisa Abatsis
Cello on ‘Every’ Arranged by Bryan Wilson

The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. You can leave a donation to the IRC using the link below – thank you.