Damon Albarn‘s 21st century re-interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s classic novel Alice In Wonderland is to be released on April 29th through Parlophone.
Opening as part of the Manchester International Festival last summer, the musical focused on a Aly, a 12-year-old who retreats into a virtual world. “Bullied at school and unhappy at home, wonder.land lets her escape from her parents, from teachers, from herself,” the creators explained, while Albarn himself said of ‘wonder.land‘:
“I’m fascinated by the idea of going down a rabbit hole, the otherwordliness and what that might mean. Alice aside, The Queen of Hearts, The Duchess, White Rabbit, Caterpillar were the most threatening characters of my childhood. I was genuinely very frightened of them as a kid.”
Albarn has already been typically busy this year, finding time to restart Gorillaz, celebrate Paul Simonon’s birthday during a live gig in London with Noel Gallagher, and arrange a performance at the Roskilde Festival with the Syrian National Orchestra For Arabic Music.