Yann Tiersen and Islandman

Tiersen was born in 1970 in Brest, France and began playing music at an extremely young age. At age four he began piano training and just two years later he picked up the violin. Tiersen progressed quickly with his music and eventually moved to various music academies in Rennes, Nantes, and Boulogne where he received classical training.

While studying abroad Tiersen was captivated by the music and subculture of the punk movement. When he was 13 he departed from classical music and formed a rock band. Tiersen was exposed to many innovative experimental punk musicians during his stay in Rennes. The city was the host of the music festival Recontres Trans Musicales and at this event he saw acts ranging from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Television, Suicide, and Nirvana.

A few years after the dissolution of Tiersen’s band he ventured into a solo career. Armed with a drum machine, a mixing board, synthesizer, and an 8 track tape recorder he started to create minimalist electronic music. Tiersen further developed his sound and went on to compose music for short films and plays, using the electric guitar, violin, and accordion for the bulk of the instrumentation. Some of the recordings he had written for these plays and short films ended up on his debut album “La Valse des monstres”, which was released in 1995 and limited to only 1,000 copies.

Though Tiersen’s sound did not display the raw punk sonics of his influences like the Stooges, he nevertheless adopted many of punk’s ethos, primarily its dadaist perspective of abandoning any restricting conventions and starting anew. This is exactly what Tiersen did. Using what he called “musical anarchy” as a guide, he relied on instinct and incorporated whatever instrument he thought sounded interesting whether it was something as elaborate as a harpsichord or cheeky as a toy piano. In April, 1996 he released his 2nd studio album “Rue des cascades”. Though Tiersen’s first two album’s were criminally overlooked by critics and the general public, they have since gone on to earn great respect. Tracks from both of these albums were included in high profile films, and this publicity helped immensely in opening the public eyes to the talent of Tiersen.

“Rue des cascades” title track whose vocals were handled by Claire Pichet was included in the Palme d’Or nominated film “The Dreamlife of Angels”. Tracks from this album as well as Tiersen’s other first four albums were included on the overwhelmingly popular soundtrack “Amélie”. The album was a critical and commercial hit winning the World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Score of the Year and the Cesar Award for Best Music Written for a Film. It also topped the French Albums chart and placed at No. 2 on the US Billboard Top World Music Albums.

Though Tiersen’s recognition leapt exponentially after the release of the “Amélie” soundtrack, his first taste of fame was with the release of his 3rd album “Le Phare”. The album’s standout single “Monochrome” featured pop sensation Dominique A and it’s incessant radio play shot the album into the French mainstream.

Tiersen’s next feature length album “L’Absente” also featured Dominique A as well as contributions from Hannon and Lisa Germano. This album was also a huge success in France and in support of this album he went on an extensive tour which lasted from 2001 to 2002. The material from his 2002 live album “C'Était Ic” is built from this tour.

Tiersen released his score for the film “Good Bye Lenin!’ before putting out his next official studio album, 2005’s “Les Retrouvailles”. This release featured some of Tiersen’s past collaborators like Dominique A, but also featured legendary French Pop stars like Jane Birkin.

Tiersen scored the soundtrack for the film Tabarly and subsequently released a string of studio albums including 2010’s “Dust Lane”, 2011’s “Syline, and 2014’s “∞ (Infinity)”, the latter which was issued on the label Mute.