Yann Tiersen

Listen to the new single “A Midsummer Evening” – taken from new album ∞ (Infinity) – out on 19/20 May.

Yann Tiersen has unveiled a brand new single, ‘A Midsummer Evening’, streaming now at:

‘A Midsummer Evening’ is the first track to be taken from Tiersen’s brand new album, ∞ (Infinity), out on 19 May 2014.

‘A Midsummer Evening’, dense with manipulated textures, strings and choral chanting, began, as the album did, as little more than noise from toys. The initial recordings, which took place in Iceland, are explained here by Tiersen: “The idea was to start with toy instruments as a reference to my early works, then manipulate the sounds electronically. Then I added a new layer of acoustic instrumentation, and repeated the same process. Finally I repeated the process once more with strings, so the whole album was a constant back and forth from acoustic to electronic to digital, and then back to analogue.”

This layering of textures formed thematic threads that bind the album: the stones, the minerals, their infinite nature… Language too is integral to this album. ‘Ar Maen Bihan’, a story written by Emilie Quinquis in the Breton language, was translated by amiina to Icelandic (‘Steinn’). Elsewhere on the album Aidan Moffat (Arab Strap) and Ólavur Jákupsson (a member of Tiersen’s live band) both contributed tracks on the same theme – stones – Moffat’s in English and Jákupsson’s in Faroese.

∞ (Infinity) is the follow up to 2011’s Skyline (which was described by MOJO as “life affirming”, by Clash as a “…remarkable musical talent” and in Drowned In Sound’s 8* review as “euphoric”), and will be premiered at an exclusive live performance at the ICA, London, on 14 May – which sold out in less than 5 hours. The ICA is followed by a series of live dates including London’s Royal Festival Hall on 26 September, Paris’ Olympia on 27 October and New York’s The Highline on 31 May – full tour details below.

∞ (Infinity) was conceived in Iceland, where work began on the album, and in Ushant Island, Brittany. The album was produced by Yann Tiersen and mixed by Gareth Jones with Yann Tiersen and Daniel Miller.

Hailing from Brittany, Yann Tiersen is one of the most revered artists of his generation with a reputation first established by his studio albums (which included 1997 Cascade Street 1998’s The Lighthouse and to 2005’s Les Retrouvailles). The early albums were combined and used for the Amelie soundtrack (2001), earning him global recognition. Recent albums on Mute, Dust Lane (2010) and Skyline (2011) have seen his prominence build, along with projects such as the recent live score to the Fantômas series which he curated at the Théâtre de Châtelet with guests Tim Hecker, James Blackshaw, Loney Dear and Amiina.

YANN TIERSEN TOUR DATES

8 May – Teatre BARTS – Barcelona, Spain

12 May – Le Temps Machine – Tours, France

14 May – ICA   London – SOLD OUT

26 May – Teatro De La Ciudad “Esperanza Iris”       Mexico City

28 May – 9:30 Club     Washington, DC

29 May – Theatre of the Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA

30 May – Highline Ballroom, New York, NY

31 May – The Highline New York, NY

1 June – The Sinclair Cambridge, MA

3 June – Soda Club     Montreal, Canada

4 June – The Opera House    Toronto, Canada

6 June – The Crofoot Ballroom Detroit, MI

7 June – The Bottom Lounge Chicago, IL

8 June – Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis, MN

10 June – Bluebird Theater    Denver, CO

11 June – Urban Lounge Salt Lake City, UT

13 June – Neumo’s Seattle, WA

14 June – The Rio Theatre     Vancouver, Canada   Tickets

15 June – Wonder Ballroom Portland, OR

17 June – Regency Ballroom San Francisco, CA

18 June – Rio Theatre Santa Cruz, CA

20 June – The Fonda Theatre Los Angeles, CA

26 Sept – Royal Festival Hall London

27 Oct – The Olympia Paris, France

 Tickets available from http://yanntiersen.com/

Watch a series of trailers, filmed in Brittany, Iceland and Faro here:

You can pre-order ∞ (Infinity) here:

iTunes – smarturl.it/yanninfinityiTunes

CD – smarturl.it/yanninfinityCD

LP – smarturl.it/yanninfinityLP

Website: www.yanntiersen.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/yanntiersen.official

Twitter: https://twitter.com/yanntiersen

Youtube: http://bit.ly/1gk5grv