Various

Last year, Mark Mulcahy, former vocalist for New Haven, Connecticut '80s college rockers Miracle Legion, lost his wife suddenly, leaving him to care for his three-year-old twins. To help Mulcahy continue his music career, artists like Tom Yorke, Michael Stipe, Frank Black, Dinosaur Jr., Mercury Rev, Hayden and the National came together to record a charity compilation of his songs. Covering Mulcahy's career through his work with Miracle Legion, Polaris and as a solo artist, Ciao My Shining Star features admitted fans (Yorke, the National, Elvis Perkins), contemporaries (Stipe, Black, Vic Chesnutt), family and close friends (Miracle Legion guitarist Mr. Ray Neal and fellow New Haveners the Butterflies of Love). The calibre of artists chosen helps the songs on Ciao My Shining Star radiate with infatuation and empathy, allowing each artist to deliver an interpretation rather than a tribute. This is a delicate honour to a man who desperately needs a little help from his friends.