Yann Tiersen facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Yann Tiersen
Tiersen in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Yann Pierre Tiersen
Born	(1970-06-23) 23 June 1970 (age 54) Brest, Brittany, France
Genres	Minimal, avant-garde, post-rock, folktronica, bal-musette
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Piano, violin, piano accordion, electric guitar, toy piano, voice, and various others
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Sine Terra Firma, Ici, d'ailleurs..., EMI, Virgin, Mute, ANTI-
Associated acts	Claire Pichet, Dominique A, Françoiz Breut, Natacha Régnier, Shannon Wright, Christine Ott

Yann Pierre Tiersen (born on June 23, 1970) is a musician and composer from Brittany, France. He creates music for his own albums, works with other artists, and writes music for movies. Yann Tiersen uses many different instruments. These include the electric guitar, piano, synthesizers, and violin. He also plays unique instruments like the melodica, xylophone, toy piano, harpsichord, piano accordion, and even a typewriter.

Many people think Yann Tiersen only writes music for films. However, he says, "I'm not a composer and I really don't have a classical background." His main focus is on touring and recording his own albums. Sometimes, songs from his albums are chosen for movie soundtracks. For example, tracks from his first three albums were used in the famous 2001 French film Amélie.

Biography and Career

Early Life: 1970–1992

Yann Tiersen was born in 1970 in Brest, a city in Brittany, France. His family had roots in Belgium and Norway. He started playing the piano at age four and the violin at age six. He also had classical music training at several schools.

In the early 1980s, when he was a teenager, he loved punk subculture. Bands like The Stooges and Joy Division were big influences. When he was 13, he broke his violin. He then bought an electric guitar and started a rock band.

Yann Tiersen lived in Rennes, a city known for its music festival, Rencontres Trans Musicales. A few years later, his band broke up. Tiersen then bought a simple mixing desk and an 8-track tape recorder. He began recording his own music using a synthesizer, a sampler, and a drum machine.

First Albums and French Fame: 1993–2000

Before writing music for movies, Tiersen created background music for plays and short films. In the summer of 1993, he stayed in his apartment. He used an electric guitar, a violin, and a piano accordion to record music. He called his approach "a musical anarchic vision." By the end of that summer, he had recorded over 40 songs. Many of these would later appear on his first two albums.

Yann Tiersen's first album, La Valse des monstres, came out in June 1995. Only 1,000 copies were made at first. The album was inspired by plays based on the film Freaks and the play The Damask Drum. In April 1996, he released Rue des cascades. This album had short songs played with a toy piano, harpsichord, violin, piano accordion, and mandolin. The main song, sung by Claire Pichet, was used in the film The Dreamlife of Angels. Later, several songs from this album were also featured in the movie Amélie. Tiersen often plays most instruments himself during recordings and live shows. He became known for his "one-man show" performances.

Tiersen became famous in France after his third album, Le Phare (The Lighthouse), was released in 1998. He recorded this album by himself on the island of Ushant in France. He stayed there for two months and was fascinated by the nearby Phare du Creach, one of the world's most powerful lighthouses. Le Phare included music from Claire Pichet, Dominique A, and Sacha Toorop. It sold over 160,000 copies. This album helped Tiersen become known as an important new artist. Three songs from Le Phare were later used in the 2001 Amélie soundtrack. The song "Monochrome," sung by Dominique A, was a radio hit. Le Phare was his first album to reach the top 50 in the French music charts.

During this time, Tiersen also worked with other artists. He added strings and other instruments to a song by the French rock band Noir Désir. He also wrote music for films like The Dreamlife of Angels (1998) and Alice et Martin (1998). In 1999, Tiersen released Tout est calme, a mini-album made with The Married Monk, Claire Pichet, and Olivier Mellano. This album reached number 45 on the French Albums Chart.

Amélie and Global Fame: 2001–2009

Yann Tiersen was not well-known outside France until his music was used in the famous film Amélie in 2001. The film's director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, heard Tiersen's music by chance and loved it. He bought all of Tiersen's albums and asked him to create the film's music. In just two weeks, Tiersen composed 19 new songs for the movie. He also allowed the filmmakers to use any songs they wanted from his older albums.

Amélie was a huge success and won many awards. The soundtrack, a mix of new and old songs, became very popular. It reached number one on the French Albums Chart and charted in many other countries. Tiersen won awards for his music, including the César Award for Best Music Written for a Film.

While working on Amélie, Tiersen also created his fifth studio album, L'Absente. This album featured many guest musicians and was released in June 2001. Tiersen also played on other artists' albums during this period.

He toured around the world, sometimes performing with a full orchestra. In 2002, he released his second live album, C'était ici, which included recordings from concerts in Paris.

Tiersen's talent for film music was in high demand. After Amélie, he composed the music for the 2003 German film Good Bye, Lenin!. This movie was also very successful and won many awards. Tiersen received the German Film Award for Outstanding Music.

Yann Tiersen (left) and Christophe Miossec (right) at Cabaret Vauban, Brest, France, 6 February 2005.

Yann Tiersen continued to work with many different musicians. In 2004, he released a collaboration album with American singer-songwriter Shannon Wright. In 2005, he released his fifth studio album, Les Retrouvailles. This album featured singers like Elizabeth Fraser, Jane Birkin, and Stuart A. Staples. Les Retrouvailles also came with a DVD called La Traversée, which showed how the album was made. His world tour in 2006 led to his third live album, On Tour, which also included a DVD.

After a break from film music, Tiersen wrote the music for Tabarly in 2008. This was a documentary about the famous French sailor Éric Tabarly.

Recent Albums: 2010–Present

Elektronische Staubband [Lionel Laquerriere (left), and Yann Tiersen and Thomas Poli (right)] at Lazzaretto of Ancona, Italy, 21 July 2011.

In October 2010, Tiersen released his sixth studio album, Dust Lane. He spent two years making this album, mostly at his home on Ushant island. The album explores themes of life and loss. Tiersen started with simple songs using acoustic guitar, mandolin, and bouzouki. He then added many layers of sound, including vintage synthesizers and electric guitars. He toured to promote Dust Lane, starting in New York City.

His seventh album, Skyline, came out in October 2011. This album was also recorded on Ushant, with parts recorded in other cities like Paris and San Francisco. It was mixed in Leeds and mastered in London. Skyline produced the singles "Monuments" and "I'm Gonna Live Anyhow." In 2012, Tiersen also presented a side project called Elektronische Staubband. This project focuses on krautrock, electronic, and experimental music.

On August 3, 2016, it was announced that Yann Tiersen married Emilie Quinquis. They had a son on April 6, 2017.

Music

Styles and Instruments

Yann Tiersen's music is shaped by his classical training as a child. It also draws from American and British punk subculture and the music he listened to as a teenager. His musical style is unique and hard to put into one box. It changes a lot from one album to the next.

His music often mixes classical and folk music with pop and rock sounds. His emotional style has been compared to famous composers like Frédéric Chopin and Erik Satie. Some also compare him to Philip Glass and Michael Nyman, who are known for their minimalist music and film scores.

Tiersen started playing the piano and violin when he was very young. At 13, he switched to the electric guitar. He returned to string instruments years later when he wanted to use their sounds in his recordings. For his albums, Tiersen writes and arranges music using many instruments. These include:

• Keyboards: piano, electric piano, organs, harpsichord, toy pianos, synthesizers, Mellotron, piano accordions, and melodica.
• Strings: violin, viola, violone, cello, electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitars, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, bouzouki, and oud.
• Brass and Woodwinds: horns, saxophone, clarinet, bassoon, pipe, oboe, and flute.
• Percussion: drums, vibraphone, marimba, tubular bells, tom, cymbal, glockenspiel, and tam-tam.
• Other Sounds: sounds from a music box, carillons, typewriters, cooking pots, chairs, a car, or even a bicycle wheel.

Tiersen often plays all these instruments himself in the studio and during live shows.

Film Scores

Yann Tiersen's music has always been well-suited for movies. All the songs from his first album, La Valse des monstres, were originally made for plays. The main song from his second album, Rue des cascades, was used in the film The Dreamlife of Angels. Several songs from his first three albums were featured in the soundtrack for Jean-Pierre Jeunet's film Amélie.

After Amélie became a big hit, Tiersen was asked to create more film scores. He composed the music for Good Bye, Lenin! by Wolfgang Becker. While the Amélie soundtrack mostly used his older songs, the music for Good Bye, Lenin! was created almost entirely new for the film.

Tiersen returned to making film soundtracks in 2008. He created the music for a documentary about the sailor Éric Tabarly.

Collaborations

Yann Tiersen often starts composing music by himself. However, he has worked with many other musicians throughout his career. His first album, La Valse des monstres, was mostly played by him alone. But his second album, Rue des cascades, featured French singer Claire Pichet. His third album, Le Phare, included his first collaboration with French singer Dominique A.

As his career grew, so did his collaborations. In 1997, he worked with the French rock band Noir Désir. In 1999, he released Tout est calme, a mini-album with The Married Monk, Claire Pichet, and Olivier Mellano. His first live album, Black Session: Yann Tiersen, recorded in 1998, featured many artists. These included Claire Pichet, Dominique A, Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy, Bertrand Cantat from Noir Désir, and Françoiz Breut.

The soundtrack for Amélie was the first time Tiersen used a full orchestra. It also featured Christine Ott playing the ondes Martenot. Both of them also worked on his next album, L'Absente, which included American singer Lisa Germano and Belgian actress Natacha Régnier.

His second live album, C'était ici, recorded in 2002, featured over 50 musicians. In 2004, he released Yann Tiersen & Shannon Wright, an album with American singer Shannon Wright. His 2005 album, Les Retrouvailles, included vocals from Stuart Staples (from Tindersticks), Jane Birkin, Miossec, and Elizabeth Fraser (from Cocteau Twins).

Tiersen has also contributed to many other albums. These include works by The Divine Comedy, Françoiz Breut, Stuart A. Staples, and Sage Francis. In 2011, Tiersen started a new electronic music project called Elektronische Staubband with Lionel Laquerriere and Thomas Poli.

Charity Work

In 2011, Yann Tiersen worked with the Yellow Bird Project (YBP). He designed a t-shirt to raise money for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders. He chose to support MSF because of their important work helping refugees. A live video was filmed in the MSF London offices to help promote the t-shirt and raise awareness for the cause.

Discography

Studio albums

Soundtracks

Live albums

Singles and EPs

Charting

Others

• Rue des cascades (7" vinyl EP) (1996)
• Black Session (EP promo) (1998)
• "La vie rêvée des anges" (CD single) (1998)
• "Les grandes marées" (1999)
• "Comptine d'un autre été : L'après-midi" (2001)
• "À quai" (CD single promo) (2001)
• "Bagatelle" (CD maxi promo) (2001)
• 3 titres inédits au profit de la FIDH (part of the On Aime, On Aide collection, composed to raise funds for the FIDH, sold exclusively at Fnac) (2003)
• "Kala" (2005)
• "La mancha" (2006)
• "La rade" (2006)
• Palestine (vinyl EP) (2010)
• "Ashes" (2010)
• "Monuments" (2011)
• "I'm Gonna Live Anyhow" (2011)

Collaborations

Contributions

• One Trip/One Noise (by Noir Désir) (1998)
  • "À ton étoile" (arrangements, strings, vibraphone, bell, mandolin, electric guitar and bass)
• "Gin Soaked Boy" (by The Divine Comedy) (1999)
• Vingt à Trente Mille Jours (by Françoiz Breut) (2000)
  • "Porsmouth" (vibraphone), "Vingt à trente mille jours" (vibraphone), "L'heure bleue" (violin), "Le verre pilé" (vibraphone); arrangements
• Gratte-poil (by Têtes Raides) (2000)
  • "Cabaret des nues" (violin)
• R/O/C/K/Y (by The Married Monk) (2001)
  • "Roma Amor" (strings, vibraphone), "Holidays" (strings), and "Cyro's Request" (vibraphone)
• Les oiseaux de passage (tribute to Georges Brassens) (2001)
  • cover of "Le parapluie" with Natacha Régnier
• Absent Friends (by The Divine Comedy) (2004)
  • "Sticks & Stones" (accordion); "Anthem for Bored Youth" (accordion), a track appearing only on the French limited edition
• The Belgian Kick (by The Married Monk) (2004)
  • viola on "Love Commander" and "Totally Confused"
• Lucky Dog Recordings 03-04 (by Stuart A. Staples) (2005)
  • "She Don't Have to Be Good to Me" (piano)
• The Endless Rise of the Sun (by Smooth) (2006)
  • "The Endless Rise of the Sun" (keyboards)
• Raides à la ville (by Katel) (2006)
  • "La Vielle" (violin)
• 13m² (by David Delabrosse) (2006)
  • production and arrangements
• Solitude Nomade (by Christine Ott) (2009)
  • "Pensées sauvages" (violin)
• Finistériens (by Miossec) (2009)
  • music and arrangements
• Li(f)e (by Sage Francis) (2010)
  • production and arrangements on "The Best of Times"
• Soyons désinvoltes, n'ayons l'air de rien (2×CD+DVD Deluxe edition) (by Noir Désir) (2011)
  • "À ton étoile (Yann Tiersen Mix)" (arrangements, strings, vibraphone, carillon, mandolin, bass, and electric guitar)

DVDs

See also

In Spanish: Yann Tiersen para niños