Various Artists 'Dark was the Night'

What is the point of a compilation? What does it aim to do? What does it pull together? What does it intend to move in the listener?

This is not an essay topic. Versions of these questions have been wrestled with by every person who has made a high school compilation - mix tape, mix CD, iTunes playlist - for a crush. Or a friend. Whoever the thing is for, it needs a point: “I must convince X that Billy Joel really is the shit”; “I must impress and convey these deep emotions to Y - which I will do with my tastefully chosen selection of ballads and catchy love songs”; “I must introduce Z to hardcore punk, as I think she will like it.” (She rarely does.)

These things have intent. Which is what seems to be missing from Dark Was the Night. This is a compilation put together by two members of The National (Aaron and Bryce Dessner). It is the twentieth instalment in a series of charity compilations from the Red Hot AIDS awareness organisation. This, clearly, is important work and the compilation is a worthy venture from all involved. The track list effectively reads as a roster of the biggest indie names around right now: Feist, Ben Gibbard, Bon Iver, Yeasayer, Antony, The Decemberists, Iron & Wine, Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, Spoon, Beirut, Sharon Jones, Cat Power, Conor Oberst and more.

So why does it fall flat?

It’s hard to find the centre around which the compilation pivots as music. Unlike, say, a soundtrack disc from The O.C., the record doesn’t collect the poppiest stuff from mid-level indie bands and make hits (and high-school-crush-mix favourites) of them. Instead, there are 31 tracks of minor interest from some major names; released elsewhere, these would be sidenotes, curios, the type of things dedicate fans pore over. But on a compilation likely to attract many people who are newly or merely interested, most efforts feel lacklustre.

Listening through this many middling songs is a slog. I don’t hear much vitality and energy anywhere. This is either a problem with the songs offered by the artists (b-sides, songs-we’re-half-happy-with, coy duets, dashed-off covers), or the track order, or me. I’m not inclined to believe it’s the latter.

There is a homogeneity - miasma? - that descends through more than two hours of dudes and (a few) chicks with guitars. The trick of including Sharon Jones, Buck 65 (covering Sufjan covering the Castanets!) and Kronos Quartet isn’t enough to heave your way out of that hole. The lack of electronic music, where so much interesting production has been happening over recent years (say, the past 20), gives the whole thing a fairly even range of tones throughout. Stooping to even some indie-electro crossover would be nice. Santigold. Or M.I.A. Or something duly soppy like Junior Boys. Or maybe even MGMT would be enough. With a double-disc running time, there is copious available space to let the selections roam. But, it seems, there was a method to putting this together - be it ringing all the bands in their iPhones, or otherwise - and there was a decision to focus on a spread of relatively similar music. This indie limitation has been self-imposed by the compilers and the discs suffer for that decision.

Which isn’t to say it’s uniformly bland. While it would be tedious to attempt a track-by-track rundown over its 31 pieces and 130 minutes, there are standouts: the ever-beguiling Antony turning to simple blues and gospel (Dylan’s ‘I Was Young When I Left Home’); Kronos Quartet doing similar in transposing Blind Willie Johnson to string quartet (‘Dark was the Night’); Beirut up to his dependable ‘world music’ tricks (‘Mimizan’); the unlikely pairing of The Dirty Projectors and David Byrne (‘Knotty Pine’) produces the catchiest, strangest, freshest cut - right there as first song on disc one; the ping-pong electronics and cello taken to Nick Drake’s ‘Cello Song’ by Jose Gonzalez and The Books is also nice.

Given the cause, it would be churlish to suggest this thing should sink without a trace. But it’s hard not to feel like some targeted iTunes purchasing of single songs and a donation directly to the charity would - monetarily in one camp and future musical interest in the other - ultimately, be more worthwhile.