Yann Tiersen
Dust Lane is the sixth studio album, yet first in the US, by Yann Tiersen. Two years in the making, it was largely recorded on Tiersen’s current home of Ouessant, a small island off the coast of West Britanny (France), with further parts recorded on an island in the south Philippines and last touches and final mix at The Chairworks Studio in Castelford with producer Ken Thomas (Sigur Rós, M83, Dave Gahan).
His celebrated soundtrack to the indie film Amelie and inspiring live shows have continued to attract an enthusiastic fan base.
Dust Lane is, inescapably, an album preoccupied with mortality. During its recording, Tiersen lost his mother and a close friend, and the music within embodies what it is to be bereaved. It is also an album about life not as something lost, but something to be lived. "Not a sad thing, but a colourful thing - an experience sometimes painful, but also joyful," says Tiersen.
As such, it suits that Dust Lane is the product of serendipity, of experimentation as a means of discovery, and the happy accident that breathes life into a new idea. What began as a simple, song-based album, sketched out by Tiersen alone on acoustic guitar, mandolin, bouzouki and toy drums gradually took on new layers and added complexities. "I took some distance and decided to deconstruct most of the songs as I was quite tired with the traditional structure of chorus, bridge, etc," he says.
Dust Lane is ambitious new territory for Tiersen. An array of vintage synths add billowing, analogue textures, electric guitars and bass bring layers of fuzz and distortion. Songs slip from their moorings, take off on new and unexpected currents. "My plan was also to play with contrast between electric and quite dense parts and more sober and minimal quiet parts including piano and strings," he adds. So, voices join together in chorus, arcing violins and crashing drums build towards mighty fanfares – but then, clouds part, squall recedes to silence, and mournful piano and strings guide you home.
RIYL: Neil Hannon/The Divine Comedy, Claire Pichet, Shannon Wright
TRY: #7, 2, 3 - DIRTY: #8
Full Album Available Here:
https://www.piratepirate.com/downloads/
http://anti.com/artists/view/80/Yann_Tiersen
http://www.yanntiersen.com/
http://www.facebook.com/yanntiersen.official
http://www.myspace.com/yanntierseninprogress
http://twitter.com/Y_Tiersen
http://www.last.fm/music/Yann+Tiersen