Manchester Orchestra Members Take Solo Turns for Charity
The members of the Atlanta indie-rock band Manchester Orchestra strip their music down to sparse, acoustic ballads on the upcoming LP Fadeaway Records 10: Friends. The compilation, which is Fadeaway Records’ first release in over 10 years, serves as a benefit for cancer research and includes contributions from over 30 indie, pop and punk artists – including Motion City Soundtrack, Kevin Devine, Ben Lee and Brand New.
Watch Manchester Orchestra Talk About Anglophilia and Recording at Abbey Road
For their contributions, Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull, Robert McDowell and Chris Freeman each turn in a solo track. Hull’s “Back of Your Old Church” is a melancholy rumination on faith paired with a muted, drifting guitar line. McDowell (recording as Gobotron) supplies the creeping “Walk Like a Dog,” in which he issues harsh denunciations despite a delicate backdrop that suggests Sixties folk-rock and psychedelia. Freeman (as Alaska) opts for the introspective route on “A Teacher in the Sun,” for which he takes on the guise of an educator and contemplates his place in life.
Fadeaway Records co-founder Michael Dubin spoke to Rolling Stone about why the project is important to him. “I lost my father to pancreatic cancer in 2002. I wanted to put together a compilation and donate all of the proceeds to a cancer research charity in his memory. This compilation was a catalyst to reform Fadeaway Records as a not-for-profit label. Everything that we release will be for charity. We plan on doing a series of really cool, intimate benefit shows in the New York area to coincide with the release of this record.”
Fadeaway Records 10: Friends will be released on February 25th, and is available for pre-order now at the Fadeaway Records website. Hear the Manchester Orchestra lads’ songs here: