Philippe Cohen Solal & Mike Lindsay and the broken white picket pop Americana vision of "CAN A BOY FORGET HIS MOTHER?" (Official Video)

 

"can a boy forget his mother's prayers (?)..."

Oftentimes when I hear a new piece of music, I am listening in an utter vacuum, absorbing the sounds and resulting push of emotions without knowing anything about what informed or inspired the art. This is the case when I watched the black and white evocative video for Philippe Cohen Solal & Mike Lindsay's ""CAN A BOY FORGET HIS MOTHER?" which is part their larger concept album "Outsider", a deep reflective imagining informed by the absolutely curious inner world of the celebrated and devisive Outsider Artist, writer, novelist Henry Joseph Darger (Jr.). Like a third rail comic, Darger's work that was discovered posthumously is not for everyone, is extremely darkly drawn and I imagine that most people after reading accounts of his life might consider it a tragic occurence and his art an exorcism of sorts from those who didn't care for him or who had too small a soul to understand him fully.


I am woefully underqualified to write about Solal's and Lindsay's utterly unique creation of "CAN A BOY FORGET HIS MOTHER?" within the framework of Darger and his life and his art as the central inspiration but even in and of itself, within that aforementioned vacuum, it is a fascinating, curious, piece of music, at once beautiful but with a sense of darkness. I would say the overall tone around the edges might even feel creepy in the way that a piece of sonic innocence takes on a creepy tone when it is a soundtrack for a horror movie. Some of the emotional dissonance here has to do with an almost sort of 50's dime store novel-esque sway or waltz and Adam Glover's stage lit vocal aesthetic. He massages his tender sustains with an almost overly melodramatic tinge. It is an internally self aware performance, gleeful in it's over-reaching art rock meets 60's pop postures. When Hannah Peel's motherly vocals come in to soften any psychic blows, it feels like an embrace adorned in a 90's folk pop sheen (I thought a bit of Leigh Nash from Sixpence None the Richer for some reason).


I have yet to pierce the veil of the album "Outsider" but have given some of the tracks a peak. What I have heard is quite stunning in various ways. Concept albums can live or die on there ability to be true to the inspiration or source material that informs the work. In this case, Darger's estate gave Solal unfettered access to lyrics, poems and visual art that was artistically processed to create this final result.


[Solal and Lindsay co-wrote and co-produced all the tracks, with acclaimed solo artist and composer Hannah Peel on brass, strings and backing vocals to portray Darger’s child characters, the Vivian girls, and Adam Glover bringing the lush, crooning lead vocals, that conjur up Scott Walker and reflect the inner voice of Darger himself through the original lyrics. Mixed by Grammy-award winning Andrew Scheps (Adele, Beyonce, Lana Del Rey).]


I will, in the end, dive into "Outsider" while remaining ignorant of much of Darger's work and aspects of his life. It is what I choose to do at this time because to do otherwise would likely taint my view and besides, this in depth project occupied 5 years of Philippe Cohen Solal's life. As a million-selling artist, producer and composer who co-founded Gotan Project, I should (I know) honor his passion for this project by steeping myself in Henry Darger but I know (because I know myself) that peering behind the curtain (in this case) would literally find me falling through a rabbit hole that I would likely not be able to extricate myself from for some time and even if I could, I would be worse for the wear.

[The album is a musical and visual extrapolation of Darger, his obsession with the weather, his tormented Christian faith, deceptively naive paintings and lyrics to songs, that have never before been set to music, written over 50 years ago. Darger was a reclusive hospital janitor, whose epic fantasy novels and visual artwork set the art world aflame upon its posthumous discovery. Darger’s work now exhibits around the world, changes hands for close to a million dollars and has admirers among artists including Grayson Perry, the Chapman brothers and musicians like Nick Cave, David Byrne, Sufjan Stevens and Devendra Banhart.]


-Robb Donker Curtius

 

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THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:



Philippe Cohen Solal explains, "Can a boy forget his mother?" is without a doubt the most personal of Henry Darger's texts. He directly addresses his own mother, who he lost at the age of four. This never-filled absence is at the heart of the immense work of this American outsider artist. The moving black and white video, created by Pascal Gary (aka phormazero) poetically sublimates the maternal figure - in what is essential in the eyes, sad or joyful, of a child”.


Outsider is being released in the United States on April 12 (Darger’s birthday) on ¡Ya Basta! Records. It has received an array of media support since its release from Apple Music, plays at BBC 6Music, BBC Radio 4 ‘Loose Ends’, The Jazz Lounge on Soho Radio, plus press support from Louder Than War, Artylst, XS Noize, RNR Magazine and more. It is an album of lush, twisted 1950s/60s Americana with stunning, vintage analogue instrumentation transports the listener into panoramic realms.


The album is a musical and visual extrapolation of Darger, his obsession with the weather, his tormented Christian faith, deceptively naive paintings and lyrics to songs, that have never before been set to music, written over 50 years ago. Darger was a reclusive hospital janitor, whose epic fantasy novels and visual artwork set the art world aflame upon its posthumous discovery. Darger’s work now exhibits around the world, changes hands for close to a million dollars and has admirers among artists including Grayson Perry, the Chapman brothers and musicians like Nick Cave, David Byrne, Sufjan Stevens and Devendra Banhart.


OUTSIDER has been five years in the making and the brainchild of Philippe Cohen Solal, the million-selling artist, producer and composer who co-founded Gotan Project. Solal has been given exclusive, unprecedented access to Henry Darger’s estate comprising lyrics, poems and visual art and has brought together an epic collaboration with Mike Lindsay from acid folk group Tunng, Hannah Peel and the vocals of Adam Glover.


Solal and Lindsay co-wrote and co-produced all the tracks, with acclaimed solo artist and composer Hannah Peel on brass, strings and backing vocals to portray Darger’s child characters, the Vivian girls, and Adam Glover bringing the lush, crooning lead vocals, that conjur up Scott Walker and reflect the inner voice of Darger himself through the original lyrics. Mixed by Grammy-award winning Andrew Scheps (Adele, Beyonce, Lana Del Rey).


OUTSIDER’s reflection of what it means to make art, isolated in one room has taken on extra relevance when so many of us are living in small spaces under lockdown. Philippe and his band of musicians have taken Darger’s questions of isolation, imagination and a David and Goliath fight against evil and turned them into the strangest, yet most beautiful lullabies you’ll ever hear.

Philippe Cohen Solal & Mike Lindsay, divergent pop, indie rock, experimental, Dark Americana rock, dark folk, chamber horror pop, "CAN A BOY FORGET HIS MOTHER?", Henry Darger, "Outsider"