ElMuelle1931 / Europe / 2023
*Interested record stores, please contact us for wholesale
As soon as the needle drops it’s clear we are jump-cutting straight to the other side of the mirror. Cats purr, a woman sings as if asleep, drum machines stutter and warp and Alvin Lucier is not 'sitting in a room that is not different to the one you are not in now’. If you’re already confused, join the club. But, it’s the good kind of confused, a bewildering experience akin to the first time hearing the Faust Tapes or watching Inland Empire. Wait though, as pigeons coo and the tape machine clunk-clicks a gorgeous weirdo version of Roger's and Hart’s Blue Moon emerges to let you know this isn’t just dada splurge, there’s a genius pop sensibility at work here too. Side two takes us further into the murk with mournful detuned brass, stoned Joan La Barbara-esque vocalese and a droning Farfisa hymn, before ending with another too-tempting snatch of DIY pop. Some of the references are recognisable. All kinds of 70s/80s European art prog - think early Battiato, Pierot Lunaire’s Gudrun, Lucia Bosè and Gregorio Paniagua's Io Pomodoro etc etc. There’s a strong whiff of 90s us goof-off surrealism too- Bongwater, Siltbreeze, Royal Trux’s Twin infinitives, the damaged folkier side of Alastair Galbraith, Half-Japanese, early Beck even all feel relevant.
Like an oddball group of friends you might meet by chance and end up weirding-out with for days, the minds behind this deliciously odd music allow you to stay for a while in their strange subcultural world. You might not want to live here forever but a short trip, while it lasts, rewires your brain for the better.
Played, written and glued at home and on the road by:
Apolline Schöser & Thomas Coquelet
With the musical participation of:
Sakina Abdou
Flavio Bagnasco
Bertrand Fraysse
Simon Linard-Cazanave
Ivan Martin
Marc-Antoine Moercant
Seijiro Murajama
Aron Namenwirth
Valentin Noiret
Léo Rattier
Kevin Shea
Recordings:
KOU
Bertrand Fraysse (tracks 4, 7)
Mixing:
Manuel Duval
Thomas Coquelet
Mastering:
Marlon Wolterink
Typographies and layouts:
Apolline Schöser
Risographic printing:
Gaëlle Lailler
Sticker pre-press:
Carine Klonowski
Co-production:
ElMuelle1931
All Night Flight (UK)
Aguirre (BE)
Animal Biscuit (FR)
BeCoq (FR)
La République des Granges (FR)
U-Bac (DE)