Garage A Trois - Outre Mer (2005)

At first glance, it seems like just an ordinary soundtrack for a French movie. But when you dig a little deeper, it turns out that Outre Mer is one of the most unusual projects in Garage A Trois’ history. The interesting thing about the whole story is that almost no one has seen the film for which this music was supposedly written. This mystery has been surrounding the album for almost twenty years.
By 2005, the quartet consisting of Charlie Hunter, Skerik, Mike Dillon and Stanton Moore had long outgrown the role of a one-time side project and had become a band with its own easily recognizable sound. After the success of Emphasizer, the musicians decided to try their hand at a new field: writing music that not only works as a standalone work, but also accompanies the story of a film.

The cover reads in large letters: “Bande Originale du Film de Outre Mer” – that is, “Original soundtrack for the film Outre Mer”. According to the liner notes, the film was directed by Klaus Tontine, and the credits include Tontine Films S.A.

But the really interesting part comes next. After the album was released, fans almost immediately started looking for the film itself… and found practically nothing. Over time, the assumption spread that the work was never actually released in cinemas, while the soundtrack became much better known than the film itself.

Charlie Hunter later said in several interviews that the music was indeed built around a film concept, but that the listener could also enjoy it as a completely independent album. Perhaps this mystery is what gives the album its special charm: while the music is playing, the listener's imagination projects scenes from a film that may never have existed.