Deux Filles

More obscure music. For many years I've followed the career of Simon Fisher Turner. The introduction was through his soundtracks for Derek Jarman films in the late 80s & early 90s, and I've since kept up with his myriad releases on Cherry Red, Mute, Creation etc, as well as delving backwards a bit, including a strange, self-titled pop album from 1973 (when he was 19), produced by Jonathan King. He was - indeed still is - a sometime actor, appearing in a few B-movies and TV series. I even had the pleasure of working with him on a film-making project in Tokyo. His most recent music was the soundtrack for a 100-year-old film about the Antarctic (see post).

But somehow I missed a couple of albums he did in the early 80s, recorded with Colin Tucker, just after both of them had left an early incarnation of The The. Recording under the name Deux Filles, they masqueraded as a mysterious French female duo, even dressing up in drag for the covers. Silence and Wisdom (1982) and Double Happiness (1983) came out on their own Papier Mache label and disappeared into obscurity. Both comprise short, vaguely ambient instrumentals of guitar, piano, basic electronics, some sampled spoken word and 'atmospheres', with Double Happiness being perhaps the stronger of the two. It's just the sort of music I liked then and still do. Don't know how I missed it. A great re-discovery.

(NB: this is not to be confused with another obscure album by Two Daughters from around the same time, released via United Dairies. And that's enough nerdiness for today)