News / Records

Ben Gibbard, along with Canvasback Music and Atlantic Records, is curating a compilation tribute to Yoko Ono. Ocean Child: Songs of Yoko Ono, will consist of a reimagination of fourteen Yoko Ono tracks from a range of artists such as Death Cab for Cutie, Sharon Van Etten, The Flaming Lips, and more. The compilation will be available on February 18th to coincide with Ono's 89th birthday, with some of the proceeds going towards WhyHunger. You can check out David Byrne and Yo La Tengo's collaborative cover of "Who Has Seen the Wind?" below. Gibbard comments:

"Yoko makes art that teaches all of us that peace is possible.

Ocean Child: Songs of Yoko Ono was born out of both love and frustration. The ‘love’ part is pretty obvious; It is the seemingly bottomless well of inspiration and enjoyment Yoko Ono’s music has provided me and I must assume everyone else present here on this compilation. The ‘frustration’ part, on the other hand, goes back decades. 

As an advocate, the tallest hurdle to clear has always been the public’s ignorance as to the breadth of Yoko’s work.  To put it into context; This is an artist whose output has run the gamut from avant-garde to bubblegum pop, often across a single album. For years, it has been my position that her songwriting has been criminally overlooked. She has consistently created melodies as memorable as those of best pop writers. As a lyricist, she has always written with poignance, sophistication and deep introspection.  

Some of her best songs have been covered and compiled here by a generation-spanning group of musicians for whom her work has meant so much. It is my sincere hope that a new crop of Yoko Ono fans fall in love with her songwriting due in some small part to this album we have put together."

You can hear more from Gibbard on the project with Jenny Eliscu on the accompanying podcast, The Ocean Child Podcast.