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Yann Tiersen has sold hundreds of thousands of records worlds wide and even more soundtracks. Since 2009 he has been focused on playing live, with 270 shows spread over three world tours, which touched every continent. Tiersen presents a re-mastered edition of his second album 1996's Rue Des Cascades. With his whimsical, melancholy music, Yann Tiersen has become a sought-after composer, not only for his soundtrack work, but in his own right. Borrowing from French folk music, chanson, musette waltz and street music, as well as rock, avant-garde, and classical and minimalist influences, Tiersen's deceptively simple style has been likened to Chopin, Erik Satie, Philip Glass, and Michael Nyman. Tiersen became popular outside his native country for his score to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 2001 film Amélie. Born in Brest in Brittany, on June 23, 1970, Tiersen was raised in Rennes and made a name for himself as one of the star pupils at his local conservatory. Tiersen studied violin and piano from the ages of six to fourteen, and eventually trained to be a conductor. However, Tiersen rebelled against his classical training and, inspired by the likes of Joy Division and the Stooges, played guitar with several local post-punk-influenced bands during his later teenage years. At the same time, Tiersen was also composing soundtracks for short films and accompaniment for plays. Several of these pieces ended up on his first album, La Valse des Monstres (IDA 001CD/LP), in 1995 and introduced his delicate but deeply emotional style, and which also featured intricate arrangements incorporating instruments as varied as toy piano, banjo, harpsichord, melodica, and carillon, as well as piano and guitar. If La Valse des Monstres and its follow-up, 1996's Rue Des Cascades, were slow burners, Tiersen's third album, 1998's La Phare (IDA 003CD/LP), met a different fate; its single, "Monochrome," which was sung by French pop star Dominique A., was a radio hit and propelled the album, and Tiersen, to mainstream success in France.
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