Alt-J, William Doyle and more form 'Isolation Choir' for new charity single
London-based vocal collective Shards have teamed up with a newly-formed ‘Isolation Choir’ for a new charity single, ‘Inside I’ll Sing’.
The choir is formed by a cast of musicians around the world who recorded remotely, including Alt-J‘s Joe Newman, composer Anna Meredith, Hatis Noit, Douglas Dare, Luke Howard, JFDR, and former East India Youth musician William Doyle.
You can watch a video for the slow and soothing track, which is out now on Erased Tapes, below. It was directed by Fiona Jane Burgess of Cumbrian trio Woman’s Hour, who repurposed some previously filmed and unused footage for the clip.
It also features a quotation from T.S. Elliot’s poem East Coker, first published in 1941 and written during German air raids on the UK during the Second World War.
All proceeds from the release, which sees the track’s various vocal contributors taking turns leading the choir, will go to the charity Help Musicians. The public are also invited to donate directly here.
“I reached out to musician friends in the UK and abroad to see if they would lend their voices to an ‘Isolation Choir’, and was overwhelmed by the positivity and enthusiasm that everyone responded with,” Shards leader Kieran Brunt says of the collaboration.
“Like me, many needed a distraction from current events and valued just being given a simple task to do. I recorded a demo of the song and sent out instructions on how to record at home with whatever means were available.”
