After 17 years of musical absence, War Child came through with “HELP (2),” a charity album equally as ambitious as their first, on Friday, March 6.
Dozens of collaborators across a predominately indie spectrum come together amongst 23 tracks, produced by James Ford and recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios. Original songs and a handful of covers make up the track list, and according to the War Child website, all the album’s proceeds go towards War Child U.K.
War Child, an international non-profit organization that supports children impacted by armed conflict, assembled an arsenal of musicians in 1995 for the charity album “Help.” Featuring stars like Paul McCartney, Oasis and Radiohead, the project raised money for War Child and was followed by four more charity record installments by 2009.
Arctic Monkeys, one of the biggest names on the project, start the project with the aptly-titled “Opening Night.” Released as the album’s lead single, the indie rock introduction sports warm harmonies that only get more layered as it progresses, preparing listeners for the spectacle that is to come. While relatively catchy, its presentation gets eclipsed by the following “Flags,” a rhythmically rich collaboration between Blur frontman Damon Albarn, Fontaines D.C. frontman Grian Chatten and poet Kae Tempest, along with a dazzling children’s choir.
U.K. art rock band Black Country, New Road presents a narrative of a troubled Hollywood actor on “Strangers,” with vocals shared between female band members Georgia Ellery, May Kershaw and Tyler Hyde. The band jumps between lush rock sections and calmer folk segments driven by incessant mandolin and banjo in a satisfying manner consistent with their recent output.
The band The Last Dinner Party works with a similar whimsy on the subsequent “Let’s Do It Again!” which details a relationship that keeps ending and beginning again. Frontwoman Abigail Morris’ powerhouse vocals steal the show, and the track’s orchestral finale is one of the most dramatic on the entire album.
American indie band Big Thief adds to the fun with “Relive, Redie,” an acoustic arrangement with haunting lyrics and an uncanny spaciness that recalls the work on their most recent album, “Double Infinity.”
Cameron Winter, frontman of Geese and renowned solo artist, contributed his first release of solo studio material since December 2024 with “Warning.” Winter ditches his signatory piano, instead opting for pulsating, building strings to accompany his wailing spoken word musings. As the track builds, backing recordings of his own voice drag behind the main delivery, urgency expanding in an anxiety-inducing manner to make for one of Winter’s most confusing and beautifully overwhelming compositions yet.
While the lyrical content varies wildly across the album, some artists take more direct commentary on children experiencing conflict or political agitation in general. The back-to-back pairing of Young Fathers’ hip-hop tinged “Don’t Fight the Young” and Pulp’s art rock jam “Begging for Change” is the most focused moment of discontent, something that would be nice to see more of within the project.
There’s no shortage of enjoyable covers found on the album as well. Beth Gibbons, lead vocalist for the U.K. band Portishead, channels the comforting atmosphere of the Velvet Underground and Nico’s “Sunday Morning” with a minimalist folk approach. Echoing steel guitars drift below the acoustic guitar centerpiece, evoking a consoling dreamy feel.
Depeche Mode transforms “Universal Soldier,” originally a calm folk song by Buffy Sainte-Marie, into an electronically dominant powerhouse, while beabadoobee offers her take on Elliott Smith’s classic “Say Yes,” an intimate encounter where her tender vocals capture the original in all its melancholy.
Irish post-punk act Fontaines D.C. strays from their typical abrasiveness to cover the late Sinéad O’Connor’s “Black Boys on Mopeds,” beginning the song in acoustic fashion and piling on a light mellotron haze and cinematic strings to round out the performance.
Olivia Rodrigo makes a surprising appearance to close the record with a cover of The Magnetic Fields’ biggest hit, “The Book of Love.” Rodrigo maintains the acoustic feel of the original, letting her expressive vocals make this version feel her own. With the soothing sound and beautiful lyrics about love, there couldn’t be a better way to conclude the album.
The sheer array of artists and abundance of quality on “HELP (2)” is staggering, and even more impressive is the cohesion between it all. The sequencing presents thematically and sonically similar tracks alongside each other, but not in a way that feels like reductive grouping. “HELP (2)” is an impressive accomplishment, one that will be hard to surpass if War Child ever tries to release a third installment.
Rating: 3.75/5