Charitindie 2024 - This Year and The Next
It’s been a pleasure to be involved with Charitindie once again, an event that’s grown from last year’s original stream both in the number of performers we had on the bill, and the total we raised for charity! Held on Saturday March 30th over more than four hours and spanning artists from four countries across three continents – in this piece we’ll tell you what went down and how you can be involved in next year’s stream.
Top Row (from left to right): Secret Pigeon, Dullan, Mari Dangerfield, Gym Socks, Jeremy M, Cayt W, Copeland James and Scullin Bonez.
Bottom Row: Uncle Emmington, Ellis Piper, Blooming Heads, Pacing, Tarquin Alexandra and Beth Torrance.
Charitindie 2024 Logo and Collage by Cayt W.
‘I’m so happy with how this year’s stream went. As well as a host of wonderful returning artists, we also got the pleasure of introducing some new ones. On top of that, we raised $348 for a very good cause. I hope everybody watching left the stream with a highlight; a song they’re going to find later, a gig they’ll attend, and the satisfaction of doing good.’ – Cayt W (Charitindie Organiser)
If you missed our livestream or you’d like to watch it again, hit play below. Find out more about our fourteen artists in our previous article. You can still donate to our chosen charity this year, the Sunrise Movement, via the link above.
Following some (minor) technical issues, Cayt gathered everybody together to begin the livestream. Having adjusted our timings from the first year, our early turnout was much stronger from overseas viewers, all tuning in just in time to see Secret Pigeon opening Charitindie 2024!
‘My turn to make a bit of noise…’
Backlit by fairy lights and brandishing a well-received array of rainbow striped stringed instruments, Secret Pigeon eased us in gently with their self-conscious love song ‘Worthy’. Flynn’s next piece was written in ‘utter despair and hatred towards having a job’. The tentatively titled ‘Overtime Hours’ was full of Flynn’s lyrical wit and honesty as we’d heard in Charitindie 2023.
Arming themselves with a banjolele, Flynn performed the title track from their recently released ‘Homing’ EP and concluded with an old Beanie In The Bath track called ‘Sun On The Coast’. You couldn’t help but feel uplifted by Flynn’s melodies and choice of instrumentation, we highly recommend checking out Secret Pigeon’s EP. Following this first set, Cayt announced we’d already raised $105 for the Sunrise Movement!
‘I’m Dullan, welcome to the Charitindie stream, hope you’ve enjoyed it so far!’
The sunny disposition continued into Dullan’s set, comprised of a collection of his singles and some unreleased tracks. Beginning with ‘You Took My Song’, the chat room loved Dullan’s on-screen lyrics and gave handclap emojis galore for his acoustic guitar solo.
With all the sets being recorded in advance, it was Dullan’s hope that ‘The Sun Is On Its Way’ would not be his last single by the time Charitindie 2024 went live. Dullan has not yet released music this year, but we’re confident his next single, ‘The Band’ will be out before long! ‘Jump In’ was co-written with fellow Charitindie Collective artist Pacing and will feature on Dullan’s forthcoming EP. He finished the set with the Paul McCartney-inspired ‘Back Inside’ – think ‘I Will’ from The White Album.
“This first song is called ‘Ruins’ and it’s about a semi-fictional story of a break-up in the middle of a climate crisis.”
It was our pleasure to introduce Mari Dangerfield, who brought the first electronic music to Charitindie 2024, performing to a mixture of backing track, synth and (multiple!) stylophones. The chat room was very welcoming to this newcomer, with some participants already a fan of her music, making more in the process!
The first half of Mari’s set consisted of tracks from her 2023 EP ‘Eco-Fever’, which was balanced by songs from her debut album ‘Love And Other Machines’. The latter featured a much-lauded stylophone solo in ‘Love Machine’, and ‘The Stars Were Wrong’ told a story of incompatible star-signs finding love on their terms.
‘Today I’m gonna play a very short set for you, I’m just gonna play you a little song I wrote in hopes that you’ll donate money for a very good cause!’
Songwriter and bedroom producer Edward Woodley returned to Charitindie after opening last year’s stream as Count to Ten with Nobody. Ed began 2024 by rebranding his music under the name Gym Socks, and this song was the first taste of some of the new music he’s been writing for this project!
With a working title of ‘M40’, the upbeat acoustic guitar performance was catchy in its lyric, and gave a glimpse of how the recently penned track would sound with more instrumentation built around it. Gym Socks finished his short set by announcing the track will be included on an album he’s been writing, due for release in 2024!
‘I hope that you enjoy my set, please consider donating to our stream in support of the Sunrise Movement, if you’re able to!’
With a rapid changeover by Cayt W, Jeremy M spoke about the stories behind his songs prior to performing. His three-song set featured entirely new tracks to the livestream. Beginning with ‘Little Man’, Jeremy described it as being about how ‘sometimes you settle into your everyday routine, and you can feel like you’re losing yourself and the things that you like to do…’
The agonising ‘Thursday’ was an unfinished idea, written recently about a time when someone promised Jeremy they’d support him at a school concert, but didn’t show up and gave no explanation as to why. His last song ‘The Right Time’ is about ‘letting go of things that hurt you that you have a right to be upset about.’ As with Charitindie 2023, the chat room gave universal praise for Jeremy’s angelic voice, and the aching way with which he delivered his lyrics.
‘Sorry I don’t know if you can see that, I think there’s an issue with the camera…’
Following a discussion on this year’s charity, Cayt W began experiencing camera trouble. This was all a sneaky ploy to transition to their own set, drawing their hand away from the camera to reveal themselves holding a microphone and begin performing to a backing track of their own making.
Cayt had even worn the same clothes for their pre-recorded performances, beginning with older song ‘Talk To The Girl’. Presenting the stream seated, Cayt sang this impassioned first song on their feet, before taking a seat for the more sombre ‘Warm Water’.
Leaning in close to the recently fixed camera, Cayt began another new song – ‘Human Being Pt. II’, full of their spine-tingling vocal intimacy showcased so well on their previous EPs ‘Mandatory’ and ‘The First Rain In Eden’. Cayt W concluded their set with a cover by Will Wood called ‘When Somebody Needs You’. ‘I think I fixed- did that- Did that work? Is the camera working now? There was a whole fifteen minutes where it just blacked out. Weird, anyway…’
‘…so there’s some Copeland lore for you.’
Right at the moment we had to excuse ourselves from the stream, we introduced (via a pre-recorded link) Copeland James! Having closed Charitindie 2023, Copeland was back with a mixture of songs from their debut album, a new-but-old song and a cover.
Like last year, Copeland wielded keytar, playing piano for the title track to ‘Small Talk’. Fun fact: props from Copeland’s ‘Small Talk’ music videos can also be seen in their stream. James switched to an electric piano sound for ‘Garden of Secrets and Goodbyes’, a song about quietly preserving the memories you have from a relationship that has since ended. With their camera almost running out of battery, and their first take not recording properly, Copeland James finally closed their set with a cover of Mitski’s ‘First Love / Late Spring’. Their keytar transformed once more to deliver us a synth accompaniment, plus the only vocoder you’ll hear in Charitindie 2024!
In between sets, Cayt gave the current fundraising update as $169 before thanking the Sunrise Movement for their help in spreading the word on Charitindie 2024. Playing an ornate acoustic guitar and surrounded by rock and roll number plates, Scullin Bonez returned to Charitindie to play a heartfelt cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Oh, Sister’ from his 1976 album ‘Desire’. This connection to the past helps inform Scullin’s writing and performing style and we’re looking forward to hearing some new music from them in the future!
Before introducing the next act, Cayt W provided the handy graphic above for those of you who want to audition for next year’s stream! Email ‘charitindie@gmail.com’ with the subject line “Charitindie ’25 Submission” and include an example of your music, preferably performed live (this can either be from a gig, or a video you record yourself).
You don’t have to be a seasoned live performer to be involved with Charitindie, and sets can be performed on a humble phone camera, or recorded to a higher standard. Both styles can be seen in Charitindie ‘23 and ‘24. The deadline to submit your interest is July 31st. You can also get in touch with Charitindie on social media or us here at Moths and Giraffes and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you have!
‘I am so excited to release new music soon!’
The next artist took the crown for most songs performed in their set for a second year running – Everyone’s Favourite Uncle Emmington! Cayt described their songs as ‘delightfully bite-sized’, and they’re not wrong! Wearing a t-shirt with the words ‘Phoebe Bridgers can kill me,’ Em greeted the viewers of Charitindie with a smile and proceeded to play their single ‘No Cowboys Are Coming’ from their album ‘Alphabet Soup’. Taken from the same album, Em proclaimed ‘Holding The Match’ as a favourite of Cayt’s. ‘Body Blurred’ followed, the first unreleased music in their set.
Though originally recorded on the ukulele, Uncle returned to their music on ‘Alphabet Soup’ to play ‘Redemption’ on the banjolele. A winner with the Charitindie 2023 chat room was Emmington’s ‘I Just Like Being a Piece of Furniture in Your Weird Life (The Furniture Song)’, and we’re happy Em chose this as one of the songs to perform again for us!
By their own admission, Em’s last two songs were ominous inclusions in light of Charitindie 2024 being in support of a climate change charity. The first of these was ‘Doomsday Prepping’, and the dream inspired ‘The World Was Ending.’ The threat of the apocalypse never sounded so sweet.
Top Row (from left to right): Secret Pigeon, Dullan, Mari Dangerfield, Gym Socks, Jeremy M, Cayt W and Copeland James.
Bottom Row: Scullin Bonez, Uncle Emmington, Ellis Piper, Blooming Heads, Pacing, Tarquin Alexandra and Beth Torrance.
Good news! During Uncle Emmington’s set, the stream was raided, bringing more viewers, and it was just in time for Brianna Carmel of Blooming Heads to give us a pre-recorded explanation of who the Sunrise Movement are.
The goals of the movement are two-pronged, advocating for a Green New Deal in the U.S., but also for the investment in black, brown and working-class communities. Further to that, they also support the creation of union jobs, meaning more legal protection for workers against discrimination and wrongful disciplinaries or dismissal.
Thanks to Brianna Carmel for taking the time to explain more of what the Sunrise Movement does to the Charitindie viewers! With a few minutes to spare, Cayt updated the stream on the current total - $196. Thank you to everyone who has supported our chosen charity, you can still give via the button below!
‘I’m gonna be playing a few songs today, and they’re all mostly a little bit very sad, but they’re also a little bit very nice!’
After a recap of the artists performed so far, Cayt introduced the next artist. Returning to Charitindie under a new name, Piper Wildwood becomes Ellis Piper for this year’s stream! Playing three new songs yet to-be-released, Ellis began with ‘Laundry’, a track about ‘picking yourself up when you’re really going through it.’ Think self-care!
Accompanied by her air conditioner, Piper introduced the next song as being inspired by a car crash near-miss, then an actual car crash, and also being scared of the dentist. ‘Interstate’ was summarised as being about how ‘sometimes it gets worse before it gets better.’ Ellis Piper’s final song was about her Mom, ‘Five More Minutes’ was a beautiful way to round off her set. Has someone been cutting onions in here?
‘This song, I usually like to dedicate to anyone in the audience who is LGBTQ+. So, if that’s you, yeah, this one’s for you!’
By this point in the stream, the Charitindie Collective had raised $228 for the Sunrise Movement. Blooming Heads, the first band to perform in Charitindie, were up next! Playing alongside vocalist Brianna Carmel, Josiah Masteller makes up the other half of the duo on guitar. Their first song, ‘No-Good Youth’ is the opening track on their debut EP, ‘The Background’. The bouncy ‘Different From Me’ will be the next single from The Heads and is always dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community.
Their third song was brand-new, only played live a handful of times before with a good response from audiences. Bri tells us there’s a lo-fi recording of ‘So Easy’ on the internet for those who like a treasure hunt. With the tempo brought down, Josiah’s strumming was almost folky. With a band behind them, the track could be straight out of the early 90’s. ‘Axis Access’ is the only song of the band’s currently on streaming services – it’s also their first music video.
For their last two songs, Bri accompanied Masteller on guitar, playing the same heart-shaped instrument they played in their solo set last year. The first of these songs was the personal ‘Cutting Ties’ and Blooming Heads finished their set with ‘Dust’, assuring the stream that all of these songs would be on an album ‘someday.’
‘Hey guys, it’s Pacing, aka Katie, aka Pacing here. And I have exactly twenty minutes until I need to leave for a function, so I thought what better time than to record my Charitindie set for you!’
We were back to introduce the twelfth artist in a somewhat unscripted chaotic way (we’d done too many takes and were at the end of our thread). The twelfth artist was Pacing! Like Blooming Heads, the songwriter and bedroom producer managed to cram six songs into twenty minutes, beginning with ‘I Hate You ’ from her 2022 mixtape ‘hatemail’.
Katie donned the same shirt as last year to resume her set with ‘Bite Me’, the almost-title track from her debut album. It’s called: ‘Real Poetry Is Always About Plants and Birds and Trees and The Animals and Milk and Honey Breathing In The Pink But Real Life Is Behind A Screen’. Pacing would play a couple more songs from this album after a request from Cayt – hatemail’s ‘Who has ADHD now lol’. She upped the pace for ‘Have you tried meditation?’, doing a vocal version of her noise track ‘*******’ before playing one of our favourites from her record, the referential ‘unReal / forReal’.
In a surprise to us, Pacing closed her set with one of her earlier singles from 2021, ‘Is everybody hanging out without me?’ On track to make her function, it was in fact Pacing that was about to hang out without us. But before she left, Katie McTigue made sure to zoom in on the tank to our left to show us her pet snake. Forever on brand is our Pacing.
‘I hope you don’t mind, we’ve gone back in time a little bit…’
Greatly anticipated was the set of Tarquin Alexandra, who’s been busy behind the scenes working away on a new album. Just announced is the first single from the forthcoming record, ‘All The Rage’, due out on April 26th. Like last year, Tarquin added title cards to her set, interrupted briefly by Tarquin from the future who has since been battling a lapse in her health.
In the meantime, Tarquin from the past arrives to play a cover she’s teased on her social media, Peter Allen’s ‘Everything Old Is New Again’. Going further back in time, Tarquin’s video output narrows to a ratio of 4:3, round are the edges, and absent are the colours for a ukulele performance of her new song ‘Ballerina’. Coming back to the present, Alexandra played some old favourites to finish her set, with a vocal solo in ‘I Play Me Well’ and a teetering ‘Symptoms Song’ undoubtedly straight from the heart.
We want to extend a huge thank you in particular to Tarquin for performing in Charitindie 2024 despite her health setback, we really appreciate the enormous amount of effort required for such a feat. With all this time travelling excitement, look out for Tarquin Alexandra’s new album, ‘The Contortionist’, coming soon…
“Hi I’m Beth Torrance, and this is my song ‘Tiny Flowers’.”
Our last performer for Charitindie 2024 comes all the way from New Zealand, a first for the stream as we’ve never journeyed to the Southern Hemisphere before! With recording monitors mounted on breeze blocks and a poster of Kurt Cobain supervising the moment, Beth Torrance began her set with her latest, very recently released single ‘Tiny Flowers’. We urge you to check out the music video and original single, we’ve never heard such emotion poured into acoustic instruments.
‘Ankle Socks’ was another new song, currently unreleased but set to appear on Beth’s forthcoming EP alongside her new single. In a Charitindie first, Beth had her own roadie to switch guitars with for her final song, the title track from her debut album, ‘let’s move to the seaside and never feel lonely again.’ It was this track that caught our attention in 2023, a beautifully put together song with lyric and melody drawing together a fraught daydream, executed with ease and simplicity.
And that was Charitindie 2024! Thank you to all fourteen of our artists who got involved this year, making it even better than Charitindie 2023. A huge thank you of course goes to Cayt for stitching all the elements together and for organising and hosting the stream. There really is no Charitindie without Cayt W.
On behalf of all of us, we want to thank you for participating in Charitindie 2024, for reading these pieces, listening to some great music and donating to the Sunrise Movement! We really appreciate you. Our total stands at $351, but there’s still time to add a penny or two. Click the button above, anything you can give means the world to us.
Maybe you were merely viewing the stream this year and thinking to yourself, ‘I can do that.’ Well you can. We would love it if you did. Send some of your music over to ‘charitindie@gmail.com’ with the subject line “Charitindie ’25 Submission”, you have until July 31st to audition! Last year we had twelve artists, this year we had fourteen. Let’s get more of you involved in 2025!
“Now that we’ve proven it works, I expect Charitindie ‘25 will be just as good if not better. More unreleased tracks. More new talent. More snakes. More funny t-shirts. Even more support for a worthy cause. I can’t wait.” – Cayt W
Charitindie 2024 logo by Cayt W.
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Visit the Charitindie YouTube channel to rewatch this year’s stream and our 2023 event.
To find out more about the artists who played this year’s stream, read our previous article here.
Read about the origins of Charitindie here.
Read more about the Sunrise Movement on their official website.
Donate to the Sunrise Movement via our link, or give directly on their website above.
Follow Charitindie on Twitter and Instagram @charitindie.
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Submissions are currently closed, but if you’d just like to send us your thoughts, don’t hesitate to contact us via our social media accounts, our contact page, or via email at mothsandgiraffes@outlook.com. We receive a lot of emails though, so please bear with us!
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