To help out sex workers, a community struggling more than ever due to the coronavirus, local rock musician Byrne Bridges sent out an open invitation to musicians across the Midwest to submit an original song for a musical fundraising project. There was only one rule: Every song needed to be recorded while in quarantine.
The result was a music compilation titled “distance; persistence: songs from quarantine,” comprised of 19 songs spanning different genres, subjects and styles. All proceeds of the $7 album, which was released to Bandcamp on Friday, will be donated to Lysistrata, an online-based organization dedicated to providing assistance and resources to sex workers.
Although some of the songs were written before the coronavirus became a national crisis, all of them were recorded and produced in self-isolation, Bridges said.
“All these songs are actually from quarantine, that’s the thematic tie,” Bridges said. “The situation that’s going on right now is weighing on all of these songs.”
Even though each song is different, Bridges said they all are influenced by the pandemic in some way. “I Think You’re Gonna Be Fine” by Scott Whiddon, for example, sounds like an explanation of the coronavirus to young children in the form of a lullaby, Bridges said.
Bridges contributed two of her originals to the compilation. One of them, titled “I Fall Away,” is about being overcome by sadness when thinking about marginalized communities in the United States, she said.
This applies directly to sex workers, who are especially vulnerable to the economic and social effects of the virus, Bridges said.
“When you think about sex workers, their job is already criminalized and there’s already a lot of risk,” Bridges said. “That’s made it more difficult now that they can’t work.”
In addition to having their income reduced by the economic shutdown, sex workers are now in more danger because times of crisis enable abusive clients and exploitative managers to take advantage of them, said co-founder of Lysistrata Cora Colt. In the midst of the coronavirus panic, the organization is working to provide emergency funds and resources to sex workers who are struggling to make ends meet, she said.
“Direct services like ours are always needed, but the constant fundraising gets tedious,” Colt said. “Having folks put their artistic skills to use to support vital services like ours is always a very exciting and helpful contribution to our efforts.”
Electric cellist Kate Wakefield contributed “Blink,” a nostalgic song about reminiscing on how people enter and leave each other’s lives, to the compilation. Wakefield said she thinks the project is beautiful because it involves using art to support people who are neglected by society.
“We as artists are not doing great either, but there are more people who are struggling more than us,” Wakefield said. “It’s cool that recording a song in quarantine can go to people who need even more help right now.”
