Yann Tiersen recently released his latest album ALL, and PopMatters’ John Garratt said of the record: “ALL sure does have all the makings of a big, brainy show, but two simple key factors make it easy for the listener to overlook all of this. One is the strength of Yann Tiersen’s writing and the other is the arranging and execution thereof by everyone else involved. Language barrier be damned, ALL just sounds great.”
Tiersen has released a number of beautifully filmed visualizers based on the beauty of the natural environment for this record, including the enchanting “Koad” and the slightly eerie and mesmerizing “Pell”. On all of the album’s tracks, Tiersen shows off his chops as a major league composer. The music draws you into its world completely. Play this in a dark room with the music surrounding you, and you’ll feel like you’ve entered an alternative universe, but one with streaks of familiarity in the earth sounds incorporated within the music.
Today, Tiersen is sharing his latest song visualizer, this one for “Erc’h”, translated as “snow” in English. This track’s natural element is field recordings of birds. Ólavur Jákupsson sings the beautifully affecting smooth vocals that are paired with crystalline tones as a choir eventually joins the proceedings, elevating the music to a heavenly space.
Tiersen tells PopMatters that “it rarely snows in Ushant, and last year, during winter, it snowed. A very special day, snow for the first time in 15 years. That night, some birds, the Northern Lapwing, were escaping the cold and they sang all night. It was really strange, I’ve never seen those birds before, and they were all over the place, singing. The field recordings are those birds.”
TOUR DATES
5/10 – Los Angeles, CA – Orpheum Theater
5/11 – San Francisco, CA – The Warfield
5/13 – Seattle, WA – Moore Theatre
5/14 – Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre
5/17 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
5/18 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
5/19 – Detroit, MI – Garden Theater
5/20 – Toronto, ON – Queen Elizabeth Theatre
5/23 – Philadelphia, PA – Keswick Theatre
5/24 – Washington, DC – Lincoln Theatre
5/25 – Boston, MA – Berklee Performing Arts Center
5/28 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre
5/29 – Montreal, QC – Place des Arts
5/30 – Montreal, QC – Place des Arts
5/31 – Quebec City, QC – Palais Montcalm – Maison de la Musique