Beck, Animal Collective, Jeff Tweedy, Karen O, Kamasi Washington, and More Join Birdsong-Inspired Compilation

Animal Collective, Jeff Tweedy, Karen O, Kamasi Washington, and Nick Cave & Warren Ellis are among the more than 200 contributors to a forthcoming compilation inspired by birdsong. For the Birds: The Birdsong Project will arrive in five monthly stages through September, with the first volume landing in full today. Randall Poster produced the full collection, and Lee Ranaldo is one of the set’s other executive producers. All proceeds from The Birdsong Project will benefit the National Audubon Society. Listen to For the Birds: The Birdsong Project, Vol. I, and watch videos for a few tracks from For the Birds, below.

The Birdsong Project will be released in a massive vinyl set, too, spread across 20 LPs. The deluxe set also comes with a photo book that features an essay by Loma and Shearwater member Jonathan Meiburg, who is also an ornithologist.

In addition to the musical selections, the project includes spoken-word pieces from the likes of Bette Midler, Natasha Lyonne, Florence Welch, and Matthew McConaughey. Terry Riley, Mary Lattimore, Tyondai Braxton, and Elvis Costello are among the other artists included on the expansive compilation. In a brief statement about the project, Costello wrote, “This should be so very obvious; without birds we would be knee-deep in worms, swarmed by bugs, the trees bereft of song. The least we can do is raise our voices in praise or lament.”