Fascinating project sees artwork of American outsider artist Henry Darger set to music... — Louderthanwar.com
OUTSIDER is the brainchild of Philippe Cohen Solal, the million-selling artist, producer and composer behind Gotan Project, who has been given exclusive, unprecedented access to Henry Darger’s life and works. He has brought together the Mercury Prize winning producer Mike Lindsay of acid folk group Tunng, to co-write and co-produce the album to be released in February 2021. They have brought in the acclaimed solo artist and composer Hannah Peel for the brass, strings and backing vocals that portray Darger’s child characters the Vivian girls, and Adam Glover for the lush, crooning lead vocals that reflect the inner voice of Darger himself through the original lyrics.
"A title at the same time both majestic and baroque, brought to life by a clip channeling several of Darger's sketches." — FIP
"Stunning and Rich album" **** — Rolling Stone (France)
"I dream that this transmedia project brings together past, present and future. Music, visual arts and storytelling. Substance and form, amateurism and perfectionism, dream and reality. The modern meets the old in a retro-futuristic way. I would like that through this audiovisual and interactive creation inspired by the work and life of the most famous artist of Art Brut, the public questions the role and relationship of celebrity to the necessity of art. In a world dominated today by the exhibition, or even the display, through social networks, of every moment and detail of his/her life or person, this artist challenges us with his immense work, unpublished in his lifetime and created in a totally intimate and vital effort. " - Philippe Cohen Solal.