Clair Obscur was founded in Creil in 1981 by Thierry Damerval (bass), Christophe Demarthe (vocals) and Nicolas Demarthe (guitar). Clair Obscur strived to nurture their musical creativity into atmospheres, rather than just dispel mere melodies. Their shows mixing music and visual performances were very quickly recognised, and became a reference to both the buying public and the up and coming French independant radio stations. In 1982 they were invited to play at the Cirque d’Hiver de Paris for the French magazine Actuel which spoke of «young cultured barbarians» and of « rock Artaud ». The first cassette of Clair Obscur was released the same year. Re-published on vinyl and on CD, nearly 7000 copies have been sold since then. In 1983 Clair Obscur were invited to play at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts de Paris as well as to support Killing Joke at Le Palace in Paris. The stage was cluttered with furniture and domestic objects - between the drums and the amplifiers a couple lived their