COMMENTARY by Akira Palais

This album is available to purchase as part of a fundraiser for people in Gaza, which will be donated directly to Association France Palestine Solidarité. Listen on Bandcamp

On May 3rd, you can take advantage of Bandcamp Friday to make a donation that can be collected in full with no Bandcamp fees. 

Despite sitting on a lot of work, we were not really ready to open ÊT/RE as a label yet. Amongst the releases planned, we were lucky enough to be the recipient of a recording from Sukkube based in Toulouse, which was to be one of our first releases.

Sukkube had expressed an interest from the beginning in using the recording as a opportunity to raise funds for people in Gaza, an initiative that we fully-support and agreed to implement. Yet, despite lagging behind with the label due to a lot of work going on over at Becoming, Sukkube reminded us that while we are fiddling with the virtual infrastructure, people in Palestine are still enduring excruciating conditions. The minimum we can do is interrupt our own schedules and open ÊT/RE early so that this recording can be heard and the funds can be raised. It was decided that we would use the next upcoming Bandcamp Friday on May 3rd 2024 to release this recording, in order for the full amount of any donation to be delivered to the chosen organization.*

The recording has been named "Forget Me Not", as during the process of creating the artwork we landed on just the right combination of blending options that the harsh yellow-red lines that carve up the skyline over Gaza transform into delicate blue flowers, dried and pressed. The transformation of weaponry into this particular flower with this particular name captures quite the sentiment — we cannot forget these people. It reminds me of a passage I read in Becoming's latest book, Dialogues on CoreCore, where Dana Dawud writes about the imagery that is erupting out of Palestine, the captured faces of suffering people, immortalised. For this reason, we will be giving away some copies of this book to a couple of those who participate in this fundraiser.

*With all of us having sought advice and recommendations on where to send the money, we deferred to the informed decision of Sukkube, who was recommended the Association France Palestine Solidarité. Having said that, we are open to discuss this and accept other informed recommendations at any time.