Dark Was The Night

Over the past twenty years Red Hot Organisation have raised around 7 million dollars for HIV/AIDS causes around the world on the way they have released a bunch of star-studded compilation albums.

Red Hot’s latest offering Dark Was The Night is curated by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National and has a track list that reads like a roll call of indie rock’s brightest stars.

Without any specific theme the collection of covers, collaborations and new tracks work surprisingly well together. The first disk has a more folky feel; starting with Knotty Pine an unlikely collaboration between Dirty Projectors and David Byrne. This is followed by Cello Song on which The Books produce a lofi fuzz for Jose Gonzalez balance his delicate voice.

Other highlights of the first disk are new tracks from Bon Iver (Brackett, W1) and Yeasayer (Tightrope).

Proving to be more than just curators with a lot of friends The National also contribute So Far Around the Bend, before Bryce Dessner teams up with Antony Hegarty to cover Bob Dylan’s I Was Young When I Left Home, and brother Aaron Dessner works with Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) on new track Big Red Machine.

Disk one ends on a high with Stufjan Stevens’ brilliant version of You Are The Blood, stretching The Castanets original out into an 11 minute journey.

Starting with new tracks from Spoon, The Arcade Fire, Beirut and My Morning Jacket but it is not until Dave Sitek’s version of With A Girl Like You that the second disk really reaches the standard set on the first. Sitek gives The Troggs original a warm fuzzy reverb drowned sound not dissimilar to that of his own band TV On The Radio.

Blood Pt.2 is a re-working of You Are The Blood, this time Stufjan Stevens' work gets added production from Buck 65 and rapping from Serengeti - result: still brilliant.

The New Pornographers and Yo La Tengo make great contributions on Hey Snow White and Gentle Hour respectively. Sigur Rós singer Jón Þór Birgisson appearing under the name Riceboy Sleeps provides spacey ambient track Happiness, and Andrew Bird does a superb job on The Handsome Family’s The Giant of Illinois.

The only complaint I can have with Dark Was The Night is that with 30+ tracks spread over two hours is where do I find the time to give this album the attention it deserves.