John Cameron Mitchell announces two-part benefit album he calls a "platonic musical orgy"

John Cameron Mitchell, the multi-hyphenate behind Hedwig And The Angry Inch, has announced an epic benefit album he produced in lockdown alongside an incredible and diverse team artists. Called New American Dream, the two-part project finds Mitchell collaborating with more than 40 different musicians, from pop producer Leland (Selena Gomez, Troye Sivan) and Hurray for the Riff Raff’s Alynda Segarra to Ezra Furman, Our Lady J, and Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart. The first part arrives this Friday, September 4, with the second to drop on November 6.
“New American Dream is a lockdown-inspired remotely-organized platonic musical orgy,” Mitchell says in a statement. “The idea started in March during self-isolation in a 100 year-old stone hut near Palm Springs. I encouraged screen/songwriter Our Lady J to send me a piano track over which I wrote the melody/lyrics to ‘See You Again,’ a tribute to the homeless during the pandemic. It went so well that I reached out to a variety of musical friends who sent me their own tracks which I could write to. I even contacted a stranger in the South of France, Izae, on Instagram because I liked his cover of a Hedwig song and we ended up writing two songs for the album.”