Philadelphia-based singer/songwriter Ava Mirzadegan released her debut album Dark Dark Blue at the end of 2023, but there was another album before it that was never quite completed. Today, the Iranian-American artist has shared one of the songs from that album, along with news that the full “unfinished record” is being released digitally and on cassette tape on May 10, with all proceeds being donated to the Red Crescent.

Listen to “Pavement” below:

Writing on Instagram earlier today, Mirzadegan says she is sharing the song “as an offering to anyone who may need it,” in light of Donald Trump’s recent, comic-book-villain-but-in-real-life threats against her ancestral homeland, adding: 

“We are on the precipice of global catastrophe and I am a total wreck. I don’t know if I feel alive or dead or somewhere in between, but I do want to remind myself that I exist, that my people exist, and to hold hope for humanity somehow through it all. Keeping my palms open to receive and give care (or as my grandmother likes to remind me: “Begeer-o-bedeh” / بگیر و بده)”

"I hope you listen to this and it helps you see us as human. I hope you speak up before we’re all gone."

Read her full statement below:

For The Light is out May 10. Pre-order here. Tracklist below:

1. Pavements
2. Break
3. For the Light
4. How I Wish
5. Not There
6. Is It
7. Mommy Make Room
8. Could I have prayed harder? 

Mirzadegan plays at The Perch Music & Arts in Philadelphia this weekend, opening for Jacob Augustine.