The Odd Gifts: Migrant Songs - CD

The pleasant indie pop songs by The Odd Gifts carry a message about the crisis of our own direction. The Odd Gifts, a project by founding member of Eggnoise, Ondřej Galuška, has dared to go beyond the pleasant, non-confrontational veneer of contemporary pop culture on their new record. The lyrics don't take a one-sided view of the issues but strive to capture the broad concept of migration worldwide over the long term. Ondřej Galuška invited a large number of guests to the album, such as singers Justin Lavash, James Harries, and Alasdair Bouch, along with many other musicians. The Odd Gifts now consists of Eggnoise members Jaryn Janek, Michael Nosek, and Jan Mizler, who also recorded all the basic tracks for the Migrant Songs album. Ondřej Galuška reveals who the album's guests are.

“A large number of the guest musicians are foreigners who have been living long-term in the Czech Republic, but the motivation for their involvement was more musical than programmatic. I knew most of them before the recording. Justin Lavash, James Harries, and Alasdair Bouch are on the record for their amazing voices and native English, a language I myself acquired as a child living in the USA for three years. Bijou Camara and Moustapha Faye shift the rhythm and mood of the songs away from both a folk and a jazz feel. Among the domestic guests are Marek Doubrava,

Vojtěch Procházka, Marie Puttnerová, and Ondřej Slavík.” For the work to be complete, it was necessary to find the right cover that would be part of the record. The right mood is captured by a cropped photograph taken by photographer Antonio Cossa on the island of Lesbos. It depicts a sunken boat, but its hue and aura make it resemble a mirage or an angelic ship, giving it an incredible and at the same time chilling symbolic power. Just like the entire Migrant Songs CD, which is a unique, topical, yet timeless album.

Tracklist

Prayer / Babies In Incubators / Migrant Song / So Divine / City Chaos / Winnie-The-Pooh On A Farm / Lullaby / We Left / 9.1892 / Growing, Teething / Hedgehogs / My, What Have I Done / Falling / The Gift Of The Other