Pola X

Soundtrack by Scott Walker
Released: May 17, 1999. Label: Barclay

Pola X is the first film soundtrack album by Scott Walker, commissioned for Léos Carax’s French drama of the same name about incestuous desire, self-destruction and artistic madness. The soundtrack comprises sixteen tracks, a combination of instrumentals and songs, eleven by Walker and five by other artists: American acts Smog and Sonic Youth, Lebanese singer Fairuz, French-Vietnamese musician Nguyên Lê and Chinese musician M. Luobin Wang.

Walker had previously recorded film themes for 1967’s Deadlier Than The Male (its title track, as part of the Walker Brothers), 1969 French Western Une Corde, Un Colt (The Rope and the Colt) and 1971 British film The Go Between (I Still See You), as well as an album of his favourite songs from films, 1972’s The Moviegoer. Walker’s music for this film included industrial noise, a church organ, synthesisers, sampled sounds and orchestral strings, with recordings made between Studios Pavout in Paris and Lansdowne Recording Studio and Air Studios in London.

“You’re at the service of someone else’s images, and that’s the key to a successful score,” Walker said of the soundtrack in a 2011 interview with Dazed and Confused’s Rod Stanley. “I would like to do more film work, as I feel I understand so much more now. We’ll see.”

Track listing

  1. The Time Is Out Of Joint! 1:08

  2. Light 3:20

  3. Meadow 2:09

  4. The Darkest Forest 5:42

  5. Extra Blues (Performed by Smog) 6:03

  6. Never Again 1:26

  7. Iza Kana Zanbi (Performed by Fairuz) 8:53

  8. Trang Mo Ben Suo (Performed by Nguyên Lê) 1:15

  9. Zai Na Yao Yuan De Di Fang (Performed by M. Luobin Wang) 0:59

  10. Church Of The Apostles 5:53

  11. Bombupper 1:39

  12. River Of Blood 1:22

  13. Blink (Performed by Sonic Youth) 5:21

  14. Running 1:56

  15. Closing 1:49

  16. Isabel 6:51

Credits

Composed and Produced by Scott Walker

Recorded and Mixed by Geoff Foster

  • Composed and Produced by Scott Walker

    Recorded and Mixed by Geoff Foster

    Tracks 2-3-4-12-14-16:

    Orchestration Brian Gascoigne
    Orchestra Paris Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conducted by Jean-Claude Dubois
    First Violin Christophe Guiot
    Recorded and mixed at Davout Studios in Paris (track 14 recorded at Air Studios & Davout Studios)

    Track 6:

    Programming David Clayton, Toy Production
    Recording Q’ Toy Production
    Rapping Sean Andrews
    Assistants Jon Bailey, Rowan Collier
    Recorded at Lansdowne Recording Studios (London) and mixed at Air Studios (London)

    Track 10:

    Drums Ian Thomas, Ralph Salmins
    Bass John Giblin
    Guitars Hugh Burns, Clem Clempson, Steve Donnelly, Jay Stapley
    Keyboards Brian Gascoigne
    Percussion Alasdair Malloy,Martin Owen, Julian Poole
    Assistant Jon Bailey
    Recorded and mixed at Air Studios (London)

    Track 11:

    Keyboards Brian Gascoigne
    Recorded and mixed at Davout Studios (Paris)

    EXCERPTS

    Track 1:

    Contains an excerpt from Scott Walker’s track “The Cocktighter” from the album “Tilt” 1995 Mercury Records UK

    Sound Editing Beatrice Wick
    Mixing Jean-Pierre Laforce

    Track 7:

    “Iza Kana Zanbi” by Fairuz
    Written and composed by Assy Rahbany and Mansour Rahbany

    Track 8:

    “Trang Mo Ben Suo” Written and composed by Mr Le Mong N’Guyen
    Arrangements Gilles Fournier

    Track 9:

    “Zai Na Yao Yuan De Di Fang” Written and composed by Mr Luobin Wang
    Arrangements Gilles Fournier

    UNRELEASED TRACKS INSPIRED BY THE FILM

    Track 5:

    “Extra Blues” by Smog
    Written and composed by Bill Callahan
    Recorded by Keith

    Track 13:

    “Blink” by Sonic Youth
    Sonik Tooth Editions - Administered by Zomba Song Inc/BMI
    Recorded and mixed in April 99
    Sound Engineer Wharton Tiers
    Assistant Luc Suer
    Sonic Youth Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Steve Shelley, Lee Ranaldo

    Recording coordination Eric Michon, Jean-Marc Bakouche/BMG Music Vision France

    Excerpts from the film’s dialogue
    Guillaume Depardieu (Pierre), Katerina Golubeva (Isabelle), Catherine Deneuve (Marie), Delphine Chuillot (Lucie), Mihaela Silaghi (La Petite), Laurent Lucas (Thibault)

    Sound engineer Jean-Louis Ughetto

    Sound editing Béatrice Wick

    Mixing Jean-Pierre Laforce

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