• News

• All

Jan 05, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and Canvasback Music/Atlantic Records have announced the release of a Yoko Ono tribute album, Ocean Child: Songs of Yoko Ono, which will be out on February 18. Curated by Gibbard, the album features 14 covers of Ono tracks from artists such as Sharon Van Etten, Death Cab for Cutie, US Girls, Japanese Breakfast, Jay Som, and Thao. A David Byrne and Yo La Tengo cover of Ono’s “Who Has Seen the Wind?” has just been released. Listen to the cover and view the album’s tracklist below. The album’s artwork is featured above.

In a press release, Gibbard states that the upcoming covers album “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 the 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.”

Ocean Child: Songs of Yoko Ono Tracklist:

1. Toyboat - Sharon Van Etten
2. Who Has Seen The Wind? - David Byrne and Yo La Tengo
3. Dogtown - Sudan Archives
4. Waiting For The Sunrise - Death Cab for Cutie
5. Yellow Girl (Stand For Life) - Thao
6. Born In A Prison - US Girls
7. Growing Pain - Jay Som
8. Listen, The Snow Is Falling - Stephin Merritt (of Magnetic Fields)
9. No No No - Deerhoof
10. Don’t Be Scared - We Are KING
11. Mrs. Lennon - The Flaming Lips
12. No One Sees Me Like You Do - Japanese Breakfast
13. There Is No Goodbye Between Us - Yo La Tengo
14. Run Run Run - Amber Coffman

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.