Soulful tunes for longer nights

A number of high-profile Irish indie artists have come together for a good cause – and a nifty collection of songs, to boot. For the past few years, final-year students of Dublin’s Sound Training Centre have overseen the release of a charity compilation featuring local artists covering songs. Last year, their Silver Lining album met with resounding success, largely thanks to the inclusion of James Vincent McMorrow’s cover of Steve Winwood’s Higher Love, which was picked up by lovefilm.com for a TV ad.

The album raised €70,000 for Headstrong, and this year’s group is hoping to better that. Artists on the soul classics-themed The Shortest Night – which, as you can guess, will be released on June 21st – include Pugwash Neil Hannon covering What Becomes of the Broken Hearted, Villagers’ take on Marvin Gaye’s Mercy Mercy Me, Jape’s Why Am I Treated So Bad by the Staples Sisters, and former Turn frontman Ollie Cole’s cover of Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together.

“It’s great to have the opportunity to work with such established talent,” says project manager Brian Cahill. The album will be launched at a free gig at The Button Factory next Thursday.