Yann Tiersen: Skyline

I hang my head in shame once again. Up until recently my knowledge of Yann Tiersen amounted to the soundtrack of Amelie and some collaborative efforts with Neil Hannon. After a few weeks of listening to the multifarious splendour of Skyline I now realise this is a terrible state of affairs. If you find yourself similarly deficient then, to put it in current and common parlance, “get on it”.

Skyline is a sumptuous mix of the cinematic, the post-rock, the psychedelic, the oceanic, the chic and the pop. It’s seemingly composed of a vast array of instruments, the variety of which would be nigh on impossible to list. Of course, with an artist seven studio albums in, the potential for chaos imminent to such a melding is avoided and everything is orchestrated with drama and moments of intimate revelation and surprise. This even extends to the disorderly rhythm and strange comfort of the barks-cum-screams on ‘Exit 25 Block 20’.

Littered across Skyline are sounds and moods akin to The Earlies, Flaming Lips (‘Monuments’) and, unsurprisingly, The Divine Comedy (‘Forgive Me’). Over time, I’ve found myself so in love with these moods I keep coming back to Skyline by default. Purchase.

Yann Tiersen and Neil Hannon – Les Jours Tristes [from L'Absente]

Monuments:

The Gutter: