News Death Cab For Cutie, Japanese Breakfast, Sharon Van Etten and more to cover Yoko Ono in new tribute album

Imagined and curated by Death Cab For Cutie’s Benjamin Gibbard, ‘Ocean Child: Songs of Yoko Ono’ is a new tribute album celebrating the work of Yoko Ono, set to land on 18th February.

“Yoko makes art that teaches all of us that peace is possible.” Benjamin Gibbard explains. “‘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.”

Made up of 14 all-new versions of Yoko songs, artists involved in the project include David Byrne, Yo La Tengo, Sharon Van Etten, Death Cab for Cutie, US Girls, Japanese Breakfast, Jay Som, Stephin Merritt (of Magnetic Fields), Thao, Sudan Archives, We Are KING, and Amber Coffman.

Listen to David Byrne and Yo La Tengo’s take on ‘Who Has Seen The Wind?’ now.

‘Ocean Child: Songs of Yoko Ono’ Tracklisting:
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