YANN TIERSEN

When talking to Yann Tiersen, what quickly becomes clear is that at the heart of his approach to music-making is the tension of juxtaposition. Whether setting ‘light’ against ‘dark’, industrial music against acoustic instruments, or making electronic music on a remote island as far away from an urban centre as possible, he’s drawn to both ends of the axis at once. Perhaps his earliest musical memory helps explain the breadth of his musical interests.

EARLY MUSICAL ODYSSEYS

“When I was just four or five years old, in the middle of the 70s, I went with my parents to a sort of psychedelic sonic installation with orchestra. I don’t remember what the gig was, but I do remember the lights and that the violin bows were made of glass. It was like Star Wars – something weird and sci-fi!”

“I got obsessed and asked my parents if I could learn the violin just because I wanted to have this crystal, swirling instrument. As you can imagine, I was really disappointed when I got my first violin! I studied violin and piano at music school until I had a musical crisis at 13 and asked for an