Toronto singer-songwriter Barbra Lica has released a new song called Hello From My Basement, with all proceeds from Bandcamp sales going toward the Daily Bread Food Bank.
Lica says she has raised “a few hundred dollars” for the food bank in order to help out those who have struggled to make ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic. She hopes sales of her music can raise even more.
“I’m seeing tents in every corner of the city every time I go out,” the singer says. “I can’t imagine how terrible it would be, besides everything else, not to have a roof over my head right now, or not to have money set aside for groceries. I’m thinking about everybody who lost their jobs because of this … The Daily Bread Food Bank does amazing work to make sure people in Toronto don’t go hungry.”
Lica wrote Hello From My Basement in March, when the novel coronavirus first became widespread and “all the toilet paper stockpiling started,” she explains. “I was still too scared to do proper groceries and all the Toronto delivery services were on waiting lists, so I passed the time writing songs and snacking on frozen peas because frozen peas were all I had in large supply.”
The song came to her during a 10-kilometre jog, during which she wrote the whole song. Lica started working on it the same day, having to learn how to record and produce her own music.
Hello From My Basement features bassist Ross MacIntyre, guitarist Tom Fleming and drummer Curtis Nowosad, who each recorded their parts individually in their newly created home studios. It also includes voice clips of various friends and family members who called to say hello during the lockdown period.
“It’s the musical encapsulation of that early dystopian period in our lives as I saw it, as somebody who’s a true extrovert and suddenly couldn’t go out to see live music every night or hug my grandma or get the haircut I so desperately needed,” Lica says. “To me those phone calls are a reminder that even when we feel alone, we’re still connected to other people who care about us and are thinking about us.”
You can buy the song on Barbra Lica’s official Bandcamp page, with the proceeds of every purchase going to support the Daily Bread Food Bank.
On Oct. 2, Bandcamp is once again waiving its revenue share so that 100 per cent of music sales go directly to the artist (or in this case, directly to the food bank).