HELP(2): A Charity Album and the Film Behind It
War Child's HELP(2) was recorded at Abbey Road in one week and is on the Mercury shortlist. Jonathan Glazer's film Joy of Joys gives the cameras to children.
Charity records have a habit of sounding like charity records. HELP(2), the War Child album made at Abbey Road Studios in one week of November 2025, is now on the Mercury Prize shortlist, and a 38-minute film about its making has played the New York Film Festival. Both are worth a look for the same reason. They treat the cause as the subject, not as a pretext for a famous lineup.
One week at Abbey Road
War Child Records announced HELP(2) as a follow-up to the 1995 album HELP, and described it as a record made by "a stellar cast of musicians" who came together across one week in November 2025. Abbey Road Studios hosted the sessions. James Ford, the producer, served as executive producer.
The contributor list in War Child's announcement runs long: Anna Calvi, Arctic Monkeys, Arlo Parks, Arooj Aftab, Bat for Lashes, Beabadoobee, Beck, Beth Gibbons, Big Thief, Black Country, New Road, Cameron Winter, Damon Albarn, Depeche Mode, Dove Ellis, Ellie Rowsell, English Teacher, Ezra Collective, Foals, Fontaines D.C., Graham Coxon, Greentea Peng, Grian Chatten, Kae Tempest, King Krule, Nilüfer Yanya, Oasis, Olivia Rodrigo, Pulp, Sampha, The Last Dinner Party, Wet Leg and Young Fathers, among others. The Mercury Prize's own description says the album has 15 original songs by British and Irish artists as well as other tracks, and that it was released in March 2026.
The sessions produced collisions that no planning meeting would book. Damon Albarn's session found Johnny Marr adding guitar, with Kae Tempest and Grian Chatten of Fontaines D.C. contributing spontaneous vocals. Graham Coxon ended up playing guitar on Olivia Rodrigo's cover of "The Book of Love."
War Child's Rich Clarke, its head of music, called the record "more than an album" and described it as an example of what can happen when the music industry comes together around a shared purpose. The statement is institutional, but the aim is concrete: money and attention for children whose lives have been torn apart by war.
The director in the room
Jonathan Glazer, the Oscar-winning director of The Zone of Interest, was creative director of HELP(2). He worked with Academy Films to assemble a team to oversee the filming and art direction. His concept was "By Children, For Children," and it was literal. His team handed cameras to children.
The resulting film, Joy of Joys, runs 38 minutes and was made in the United Kingdom in 2026. Film at Lincoln Center, which programmed it in the 64th New York Film Festival, describes it as an exuberant yet sobering documentary. London schoolchildren with their own digital cameras were encouraged to shoot the recordings any way they wanted. The festival's program note says footage from children in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen, to whom Glazer also supplied cameras, runs parallel. Glazer and his regular music collaborator Mica Levi have called the result "by children, for children."
Artists featured in the film include Damon Albarn, Olivia Rodrigo, Cameron Winter, Arctic Monkeys, Beth Gibbons, Fontaines D.C. and Jarvis Cocker. The Sept. 30 screening at the festival was followed by an extended conversation with Glazer, and BAM showed the film on Oct. 2 as part of the festival's citywide program.
Why the form works
A charity album usually asks its audience to listen for the names. The method here asks the audience to look through a child's camera instead. The festival note says London schoolchildren shot the studio recordings any way they wanted, and that children in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen shot footage of their own. The film puts both sets of images in one 38-minute reel and leaves the viewer to compare them.
That is also a sensible way to keep the music honest. The recordings were made in a week, with collaborations nobody planned, and the film keeps the people who will receive the proceeds in the frame. They are children, not an abstraction in a press release.
There is a limit, and the sources say as much by omission. Neither War Child's announcement nor the festival note gives a fundraising total, and this piece does not guess one. What the record gives is a reference point: a Mercury Prize nomination puts a charity project on the same shortlist as Paul McCartney, Olivia Dean, Florence + the Machine and Suede.
What happens next
The Mercury Prize ceremony is on Thursday, Oct. 22 at Utilita Arena in Newcastle, with BBC Music providing coverage. The prize's announcement says Pulp will perform on behalf of the HELP(2) album, while the other shortlisted artists each play one track from their records. The winner is chosen on the night.
For American listeners, the album and the film are available through different doors. The festival run has ended, since the New York Film Festival closed on Oct. 12. The album is available as a record, and War Child's site explains how the money is used.
FAQ
What is HELP(2)?
A 2026 charity album from War Child Records, recorded mainly at Abbey Road Studios in one week of November 2025, as a follow-up to the 1995 album HELP.
Who made the film Joy of Joys?
Jonathan Glazer, with music collaborator Mica Levi. It is 38 minutes long and documents the album's recording through cameras held by children.
Is HELP(2) a Mercury Prize nominee?
Yes. It is one of 12 albums on the 2026 shortlist. The winner will be announced on Oct. 22 in Newcastle.
Where did Joy of Joys screen in New York?
At the 64th New York Film Festival, including Film at Lincoln Center on Sept. 30 and BAM on Oct. 2.
Sources
*Cover photo: Σπάρτακος, Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Damon_Albarn_live29.07.2013_in_Rome.JPG*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Damon_Albarn_live29.07.2013_in_Rome.JPG)* (CC BY-SA 3.0).*