QUINQUIS

Listen to The New EP ‘AER’

QUINQUIS – aka Breton artist Émilie Tiersen – has shared a new 6-track EP, AER, ahead of a European tour that continues with a performance at London’s Roundhouse tonight.

The AER EP is the latest release in a busy year for Emilie, whose debut album for Mute, SEIM, came out earlier this year. Initially inspired by the birth of her child and a period of intense touring with Yann Tiersen, her own touring in 2022 kicked off with a performance at Sea Change Festival and a series of dates with Algiers before continuing throughout September and October – full details below.

The EP consists of five recently recorded new compositions and one unlikely cover, Berlin’s Moroder penned classic track, ‘Take My Breath Away’, which Emilie says was initially recorded “…almost as a joke. I was lying on a hospital bed, in the Covid section. I had been evacuated from my island as I couldn’t breathe properly.  I spent a week in that hospital room, seeing only doctors. At some point, as my worried friends were trying to get some news from me, I just sent them ‘Take my breath away’ and swore ‘If I can recover from this, I’ll do a cover of that song’.”

Listen to ‘Tres’ here:

When asked about the track, Emilie explained, “Writing about ‘Tres’ makes me a bit shy. It feels like returning to the little girl I was, the one that was hiding her feelings to pretend to be stronger and happier than she actually was. This song is unfortunately about so many people… someone I really care for and the dark childhood he went through. Little boys and girls I saw drawing nice pictures at school while I knew they were going through hard times they didn’t even know how to express. The people my brother meet when he’s working for the “childhood protection”. The title is ‘Tres’, which means ‘Draw’. It’s an invitation to express what we don’t dare say.”

Earlier this summer, Émilie shared two incredible remixes: Phew’s remix of ‘’Netra Ken’ and Keeley Forsyth’s take on ‘Adkrog’. Both tracks were singles from the artist’s first album under the name QUINQUIS. SEIM forges a deep connection to the artist’s own culture, history and identity and saw Émilie working with a new sonic palette after several albums released as Tiny Feet. Once these ideas began to mutate into something more musical, she connected with producer and artist Gareth Jones (Sunroof, Liars, Depeche Mode and Apparat). “The record revealed itself in the back-and-forth Gareth and I had,” she says. “It was really unexpected because Gareth and I are quite the opposite – he was the light to my darkness.”

A sense of interconnectedness leads to the album being a multifaceted one. It is deeply personal and introspective yet also collaborative and expansive. It is rooted in both historical and modern stories. It is an album that connects worlds while being entirely its own. The resulting album merges sparse electronics, immersive atmospherics, and deft melodies, carried by Émilie’s tender yet quietly soaring vocals, all sung in Breton.

QUINQUIS EUROPEAN TOUR – 2022

8 September – London (UK), Roundhouse – with Yann Tiersen

10 September – Berlin (DE), Tempodrom – with Yann Tiersen

12 September – Malmo (SE), Malmo Concert Hall – with Yann Tiersen

13 September – Gothenburg (SE), Pustervik – with Yann Tiersen

15 September – Stockholm (SE), Filadelfia – with Yann Tiersen

16 September – Copenhagen (DK), Vega – with Yann Tiersen

18 September – Paris (FR), La Gaîté Lyrique – with Yann Tiersen
19 September – Paris (FR), La Gaîté Lyrique – with Yann Tiersen

21 September – Roubaix (FR), La Colisee – with Yann Tiersen

22 September – Rouen (FR), Le 106 – with Yann Tiersen

23 September – Nancy (FR), L’autre Canal – with Yann Tiersen

24 September – Dijon (FR), La Vapeur – with Yann Tiersen

27 September – La Rochelle (FR), La Sirene – with Yann Tiersen

28 September – Bordeaux (FR), Krakatoa – with Yann Tiersen

29 September – Toulouse (FR), Le Bikini – with Yann Tiersen

30 September – Clermont-Ferrand (FR), Cooperative de Mai – with Yann Tiersen

1 October – Marseille (FR), Le Moulin – with Yann Tiersen

4 October – Tours (FR), Le Temps Machine – with Yann Tiersen

5 October – Grenoble (FR), La Belle Electrique – with Yann Tiersen

6 October – Strasbourg (FR), La Laiterie – with Yann Tiersen

Tickets are onsale now: https://www.quinquismusic.com/live 

SEIM is out now as a limited edition Dinked Edition with flexi-disc and signed, numbered print; clear vinyl, CD and digitally: https://mute.ffm.to/seim

SEIM TRACKLISTING:

Adkrog
Eñvor
Setu
Run
Mintin
Estren
Netra ken
Ôg
An divare
Te

FURTHER LISTENING:

Keeley Forsyth’s remix of ‘Adkrog’: https://youtu.be/UwMAGQQSRCY

Phew’s remix of ‘Netra Ken’: https://youtu.be/zT1_CPMe96Y

‘Adkrog’ Live at The Eskal: https://youtu.be/mRQggcRAKNA

‘Netra Ken’ Live at The Eskal: https://youtu.be/R-3F0Znhybc 

RECENT PRAISE FOR SEIM

“… beautiful and beguiling collection of songs” – Electronic Sound

“… ethereal, sometimes casually ominous songs… amid flickering synth flourishes” – Uncut

“the kind of … album that deserves to grow into a cult hit” – Higher Plain

“Matching luminous electronics to drifting sonic textures, [opening track] ‘Adkrog’ revolves around a digital pulse, encouraging us to view it from several different angles”  – CLASH

CMU Approved: https://completemusicupdate.com/article/approved-quinquis/ 

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