In conjunction with Bandcamp’s offer to donate their share of sales to artists last Friday, Arca and Shygirl have put out a new collaborative track, “unconditional”. Existing solely as a digital Bandcamp release, the song’s description states that “100% of funds generated from sales will be divided between Black Lives Matter and Inquest UK”.
Having first engaged with this initiative back in March to roaring success, Bandcamp offered to waive their revenue fee (15% of digital sales and 10% of merchandise) on the first Fridays of May, June, and July, in an effort to support musicians whose touring income had been compromised by COVID-19. “Many artists have found merch and digital sales to be a last remaining financial lifeline”, read a statement from their newsfeed, “so, it’s more important than ever for fans to support musicians by purchasing from them directly”.
Though the initial aim of supporting working musicians did remain (and with live touring not expected to return until late 2021, will likely continue to be an ongoing priority), the emergence of worldwide protests against police brutality towards black communities caused Bandcamp to urge those participating to redirect their aid to a list of artists and labels that were in turn donating to the protests. Last week the company announced that every Juneteenth (the 19th of June) they would be donating 100% of their profits to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, in addition to an annual pledge allocating $30,000 every year to organisations “that fight for racial justice and create opportunities for people of color”.
Nestled amongst a laundry list of figures from the music industry that were “donating their share to organisations in support of racial justice and change”, the latest release from Arca and Shygirl is a contorting deluge of glitchy ambient pop, whose swift two-minute runtime is designed less for lasting impact and more for shock and awe. In a press release posted onto its Bandcamp page supplemented by lists of black trans charities and anti-racist reading, Shygirl said in a lengthy statement:
“I wrote the lyrics to this song a while ago, originally thinking of love, family, betrayal and ultimately strength in adversity. It was only this week that I thought of this song again with everything going on. The emotion of the song still rang true but this time in a wider way, a bigger family, a deeper betrayal, a greater need for love. It felt right to share this now and I hope it means something to you.”
The single “unconditional” comes ahead of Arca’s hotly anticipated fourth studio album KiCK i, slated for release on the 26th of June via XL Recordings. Alongside contributions from art pop juggernauts SOPHIE, Rosalía, and Björk, we know from the tracklist us that “Watch” will see these two London-based artists reunited on the same track for the second time this year.
We’ll have to wait patiently for the duo’s next collaboration, but to last us until then Arca has unveiled a music video for her latest single “Time”. Watch below:
