POLAROID - ROMAN - PHOTO (vinyl)

Description

"What to say about this album? It's always difficult to talk about songs... I wanted a concept album with tracks that could be played on the radio, in clubs, that would make girls dance and boys scoff. The main subject of most of the songs is about - centered on stories of girl/women-boy relationships, with the exception of 'Thriller' (and I'm not even so sure about that, because in the story of this thriller, the hero was led to his tragic end by a woman). In every way, it was an album for girls where they had the first and best role: they are all charming, impudent, insolent, brazen, funny, endearing, loving... T. Müller, the initiator of the RUTH project, was not new to the scene when the POLAROÏD/ROMAN/PHOTO album, featuring the eponymous track, was released in 1985. His elder brother Patrick and a cousin introduced him to contemporary and experimental music from a young age. He thus began tinkering with sounds alone on old tape recorders early on, but it was in 1977, at the Arts Appliqués where he was studying, that T. launched his first band, ARCANE, with some friends. Their sound was strange, a mix of distorted guitars and feedbacking magnetic tapes that left no discographical or live trace... In parallel with ARCANE, T. was already working solo on his concept-project ILITCH, an experimental and innovative project, whose first album 'Periodikmindtrouble' was released in 1978 on the Oxigène label. Failing significant sales, this first record opened the doors to recognition and considerable critical acclaim in the very closed and elitist circles of experimental and underground music. The musical bias of ILITCH being too limiting for Thierry's thirst for experimentation and curiosity, he developed in parallel with author, actress, and photographer Murielle Huster a Punk project called RUTH ELLYERI (an anagram of T. Müller, in full Ruth M. Ellyeri) intended to embody one of his schizophrenic facets and allow him to extend his field of expression to other musical styles than those attributed to ILITCH. From this project was born the cult punk track 'Mescalito,' which can be found compiled on the mythical and alas very rare 125g 33 1/3 rpm compilation (1979) from the Oxigène label (the first "French punk" sampler). In late 1978, he met P. Doray, another proponent of French experimental music, at the Oxigène label's headquarters. He then moved in with him near Rouen to an isolated farm with a makeshift music studio. They worked on their respective projects and met from time to time for common experiments, including CRASH (in homage to J.G. Ballard). As early as 1982, a first version of the track 'Polaroïd-Roman-Photo' emerged under the project name RUTH. - - "?I wanted to make a track to make girls dance while mocking boys. I hooked up a small homemade clock to my Farfisa organ as a sequencer; I had a small Roland guitar synth; I fed the organ into it, and it started like that." - Philippe, amused by the idea of working on a more pop project, then offered to write the lyrics. T. worked on other tracks for an album and asked friends to write other lyrics for him: E. Nono, a visual artist, wrote the lyrics for 'Mots'; F. Lapierre wrote the lyrics for 'Misty Mouse' and 'Tu m'ennuies.' She also provided vocals for these two tracks and the first version of 'Polaroïd-Roman-Photo.' Subsequently, T. moved to Studio Anagramme to record acoustic sounds. At the end of the sessions, T. and Philippe were not too enthusiastic about the mixes of 'Polaroïd-Roman-Photo,' which they felt lacked 'flamboyance.' They decided to record a new female vocal with a professional singer, and sound engineer P. Chevalot offered to mix the track at Synthesis studio "to make it pop." With his tape in hand, and with the help of J. Pasquier (S.C.O.P.A. - Invisible Records, which released ILITCH's second album, 10 Suicides), he set out to approach record companies. "I almost visited all the "majors," and I was rejected every time! Only at RCA did I find someone interested. It was F. Fottorino, who had signed Kas Product, but when it reached the big boss, it was over! There was also hope with P. Constantin at Virgin France, but without results. It finally came out in 1985 on Paris Album, a small independent label." The album (with the eponymous track, a potential hit) sold barely 50 copies in 1985. In 2004, DJs M. Colin and I. Smagghe, having discovered the track 'Polaroïd-Roman-Photo,' decided to unearth it from oblivion and released it on a compilation So Young But So Cold (Tigersushi), then Born Bad Records on the BIPPP compilation in 2008. Thanks to them, a "new life" was given to the track and the album. Compilations and re-releases followed, making this record a cult album. - - Graphic designer, T. Müller continues to produce music under his own name, as ILITCH, and as RUTH, on his own projects and in multiple collaborations."