THE BE GOOD PROJECT: AN INITIATIVE BY ROBOT JAW RECORDS
The Be Good Project is a collaborative project in the form of an album and visual book designed to raise awareness for mental health. A total of 27 artists and musicians were involved in putting this initiative together as this outlet allowed freedom of expression and creativity during social distancing restrictions.
Curator of the project Joshua Hicks at Robot Jaw Records tells The Real Songwriters of Melbourne that the idea of a physical album and book was created with the hope that people can remember the good old days of buying a physical album as opposed to the modern times of digital streaming.
As mental health has been a major topic this year during lockdown restrictions, the project allowed the ability for artists to create, record and share their works whilst raising awareness. All profits from the album will be donated to charity, Beyond Blue.
“Mental health is something we all need to look after, it is different for all of us, requires different approaches and will look different for everyone. Ultimately, my hope is that the project would expand the way we think about men"tal health as something we all have to look after, not only those with mental illnesses, additionally, we need to prioritise our mental health over unproductive mentalities such as 'suffering for art'.”
- Josuha Hicks, curator of the be good project (Robot Jaw Records)
Featuring 14 songs from various songwriters including Marigolden, Velvet Bloom, The Crane District and more, the project invited musicians to each contribute a song to the album, whether it was unreleased or an acoustic version of a track, as well as choose how they wanted their song to be represented artistically.
The project allowed artists like Azim Zain and His Lovely Bones to experiment and rework their music as the pop-punk artist transformed single, Dreams I Could Recall using electronic drums, auto-tune and even a rap to create a pop/RNB experience.
Thirteen visual artists including Lara Prokop, Madison Cravis and Ameya's Realm worked with each musician as together they created a unique visually sounding piece.
"I really wanted to make it clear to the artist that it could be taken however they wished, whether they wanted to explore it through mental illness, but also through mental wellness, self-care and other perspectives. I truly believe this is the core theme of the project, in that mental health will look different to everyone, it will affect us differently at different times, and it will come out differently through our art."
Robot Jaw Records is an independent record label which features artists The Crane District, P.T. Collins and the Damaged Goods Club. The label is due to see releases from these artists in early 2021.
You can purchase the album and book on Bandcamp now.