“We break borders. Chain link fences are nothing to us. We rebound and restore our focus.” Conscientious activist and sultry Southern folk band Rising Appalachia recently released ‘Pulse‘ in collaboration with swamptronica band Dirtwire. The four-minute eclectic track began as a homage to the fires that happened in the Amazon, as member Chloe Smith puts it, “Being from Appalachia, a temperate rainforest that at times feels like a jungle, we know in our own way how deeply embedded the health of the forest is in the life and culture of the people. When the Amazon burns, the entire world enters a tipping point. We are globally entwined and climate change sweeps into all our lives.” Add to that the most recent world-altering events, and the sisters (Chloe and Leah) that form Rising Appalachia were able to finish the track with the help of Oakland-based group Dirtwire from the comfort of their own homes. “Cross pollination is happening in the artist sphere even more these days, and it’s been a treat to pass this song back and forth between our teams and produce it together. We have always loved Dirtwire’s sound and production capacity. We hope our fans will love it and interweave it into their lives and practices,” Smith also stated.
The birth of ‘Pulse’’ comes just as Rising Appalachia teams up with Artists for Amazonia and OneForest.World to donate and raise awareness of the Amazon Emergency Fund which directly supports rapid response grants for urgent immediate prevention care, food and medical supplies, communications and evacuation, protection and community resilience for Amazon forest guardians. You perhaps missed the Artists United For Amazonia: Protecting the Protectors livestream benefit that occurred on May 28th, if you did then it’s highly suggested you give it a replay on YouTube. The benefit featured Chloe Smith performing Rising Appalachia’s ‘Resilient‘ and ‘Speak Out‘ acoustically, along with performances and speeches by artists, indigenous leaders, and scientists such as Carlos Santana, Barbara Streisand, Nahko, Jeff Bridges, Jane Fonda, Sonia Bone Guajajara, Gregorio Diaz Mirabal, and Jane Goodall.
You can find the soothing, timely, and inspiring ‘Pulse‘ which Dirtwire describes as speaking “directly to the resurrection of the new spirit we feel in the environmental and social justice movements around the planet” below.
Sarah Medeiros