Last April, as we began flying our “Mission Accomplished” banners on the cusp of what we all kind of just assumed was the tail end of the pandemic, an organization called Through the Soil set up a Bandcamp page to post a massive compilation of songs by various artists with the intention of supporting live music in case, say, another way of COVID hit in the near future once again limiting musicians’ primary source of income, with buzzing artists like Spirit of the Beehive, Indigo De Souza, and Midwife all contributing to the project. And then, obviously, like, a dozen more waves of COVID hit, which touring artists are still trying to avoid like that French guy dancing around lasers at the end of Ocean’s 12, a full feature-length movie I’m not entirely convinced I didn’t hallucinate.
But today, that Bandcamp page has been updated for the first time since last April, with 37 new tracks being posted together as a second comp titled Through the Soil II—this time around with all proceeds benefiting The Trevor Project, which provides 24/7 crisis support for LGBTQ youths. Among the artists featured this time around are Julien Baker, Tomberlin, Lala Lala, Faye Webster, Triathalon, Wednesday, MJ Lenderman, Squirrel Flower, IAN SWEET, and Horse Jumper of Love.
“It was important to take part in a project like Through The Soil II that is supporting something like The Trevor Project because everything right now is so fragile,” shared Joe Trainor of Dummy, who also contributed to the comp. “There is a near constant effort to take away the rights of LGBTQ+ people, along with women and POC. To not be a political band in 2022 is beyond us.”
Added Lala Lala, who contributed a collaboration with Tomberlin: “It’s special to be able to support organizations I care about, like The Trevor Project, through my art. Young queer people need and deserve protection and The Trevor Project helps provide that.”
You can sample the full comp below, and purchase it here.
Note: As of the morning of June 24, all sales of the comp will instead go to the National Network of Abortion Funds, which splits donations among 80-plus national abortion funds.
