Peace Anthems
Various Artists
Peace Anthems is a 2026, ten-track compilation released by Red Hook Records to mark the label’s fifth anniversary. Rather than presenting a single band or a uniform style, it brings together thirteen musicians from experimental jazz, free improvisation, ambient music, electronic composition, and contemporary classical practice around the shared theme of peace. Produced by label founder Sun Chung, the record treats peace less as a simple slogan than as a space for reflection, mourning, dialogue, and collective listening. Its short, self-contained pieces create a meditative sequence whose unity comes from purpose and atmosphere rather than conventional genre consistency.
The album opens with Qasim Naqvi’s modular-synthesizer piece “Al Badawi” and ranges through Taylor Deupree, Kalia Vandever, and Thomas Morgan’s atmospheric “Wither Light and Airy”; Moor Mother and BlankFor.ms’ electronically treated “Imaginary Lines”; and two works by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and pianist Amina Claudine Myers, including “Reflections on Palestine.” Other contributions include Sungjae Son’s “The River of Imjin,” vocalist Martha Deribe and pianist Simone Maggio’s “War Is Over,” a trio performance by Naqvi, Smith, and drummer Andrew Cyrille, and two pipe-organ pieces from Kit Downes. The result is a restrained but emotionally purposeful collection: an experimental, internationally minded record that uses texture, improvisation, and silence as ways of imagining solidarity amid conflict.
Peace Anthems
Various Artists
Peace Anthems is a 2026, ten-track compilation released by Red Hook Records to mark the label’s fifth anniversary. Rather than presenting a single band or a uniform style, it brings together thirteen musicians from experimental jazz, free improvisation, ambient music, electronic composition, and contemporary classical practice around the shared theme of peace. Produced by label founder Sun Chung, the record treats peace less as a simple slogan than as a space for reflection, mourning, dialogue, and collective listening. Its short, self-contained pieces create a meditative sequence whose unity comes from purpose and atmosphere rather than conventional genre consistency.
The album opens with Qasim Naqvi’s modular-synthesizer piece “Al Badawi” and ranges through Taylor Deupree, Kalia Vandever, and Thomas Morgan’s atmospheric “Wither Light and Airy”; Moor Mother and BlankFor.ms’ electronically treated “Imaginary Lines”; and two works by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and pianist Amina Claudine Myers, including “Reflections on Palestine.” Other contributions include Sungjae Son’s “The River of Imjin,” vocalist Martha Deribe and pianist Simone Maggio’s “War Is Over,” a trio performance by Naqvi, Smith, and drummer Andrew Cyrille, and two pipe-organ pieces from Kit Downes. The result is a restrained but emotionally purposeful collection: an experimental, internationally minded record that uses texture, improvisation, and silence as ways of imagining solidarity amid conflict.