Ruth - Polaroid / Roman / Photo LP

Label: Born Bad

Born Bad Records present a reissue of Ruth's Polaroïd/Roman/Photo, originally released in 1985. Thierry Müller, who initiated the Ruth project, is not at his first try when the album Polaroïd/Roman/Photo, including the eponymous track, is released in 1985. His older brother Patrick along with one of their cousins gave him a musical education and he quickly became familiar with contemporary and experimental music. He starts quite early to tinker sounds on old tape recorders by himself but it is in 1977 that Thierry launches with some friends his first group, Arcane, while studying at the School of Applied Arts. Alongside Arcane, Thierry is already working solo on his Ilitch project/concept, an experimental and innovative work, whose first album Periodik Mindtrouble was released in 1978. The album brings Thierry recognition and success in the very elitist circles of experimental and underground music. Ilitch's musical bias was too narrow for Thierry's ceaseless experimental curiosity, parallel to these activities, he therefore develops a punk project called Ruth Ellyeri with the author, actress and photographer Murielle Huster. The title is an anagram of Thierry Müller (the complete name is Ruth M. Ellyeri).

At the end of 1978, Müller meets Philippe Doray at the Oxigene office. Doray is another big name of French experimental music. Thierry moves to his home near Rouen, a remote farmhouse with a music studio made of odds and ends. They work on their respective creations but meet from time to time on experimentations in common, including Crash (a tribute to JG Ballard). As early as 1982, a first version of the track "Polaroïd/Roman/Photo" is out under the name of the project Ruth. Philippe is quite amused by the idea of working on a more pop project and offers to write the text. Thierry works on other tracks for the future LP and asks some friends to write other texts: Edouard Nono, visual artist, writes the lyrics of "Mots," Frédérique Lapierre those of "Misty Mouse" and "Tu M'ennuies." It is her voice you hear on these two tracks and on the first version of Polaroïd/Roman/Photo. Later, Thierry settles down in the Anagramme recording studio to carry out acoustic sound recordings. But when the sessions are over, the two musicians are not too happy with the results of Polaroïd/Roman/Photo: according to them, they lack "flamboyance." They decide then to record a new female voice with a professional singer and the sound engineer Patrick Chevalot offers to mix the track in the Synthesis studio "so that it blows out."