"If you see something and you think somebody needs to stand up for it – whatever issue it might be – then you should," Maximo Park frontman Paul Smith told The Independent earlier this year as they debuted their sixth album, Risk To Exist. "There’s a responsibility as a citizen and as a human."
And hence the lyrics to Risk to Exist, a reminder to us that the men, women and children fleeing to Europe from their homes in Somalia, Sudan and Syria - amongst many other countries - are no different to the rest of us, except that they found themselves living in fear for their lives and at the mercy of western charity.
"Throw your arms around me," sings Smith, giving voice to the nameless hundreds of thousands who have risked drowning to escape from their homes. "Before the waves all swallow me; I cannot breathe; Put your arms around me; I've come too far and the ocean's deep; Where's your empathy?"
All profits from the song go to the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS). Coldplay have since followed suit, donating profits from their song A L I E N S (co-written and co-produced by Brian Eno) to the same cause. So, if you want to know how to do a little bit of good without getting out of bed, be sure to buy one or both of these songs (especially Maximo Park, which is by far superior) and you will be funding an international NGO which rescues migrants and refugees in peril at sea in the Mediterranean, Aegean and elsewhere. Or you can donate directly via the MOAS website.
You can learn more about Maximo Park here
About the curator
After graduating from the University of Keele in England with a degree in Politics and American Studies, Jon worked as editor of a music and entertainment magazine before spending several years as a freelance writer and, with the advent of the internet, a website designer, developer and consultant. He lives in Reading, home to one of the world's most famous and long-running music festivals, which he has attended every year since 1992.