Yann Tiersen
∞ (Infinity) (Mute)French multi-instrumentalist Yann Tiersen remains best-known for composing the whimsical, accordion-laden score and soundtrack for 2001’s Amélie. That success led to other film work (Good Bye Lenin!), yet Tiersen bristles at the composer label and has eight studio albums to date. ∞ (Infinity) is ambitious and experimental, not so much songs as scored moods and sketches of dreams. “A Midsummer Evening” unfolds into indie pop orchestral cheer, but not before two and a half minutes of atmospheric drone and glitchy found sounds. It’s emblematic, a hurdle to mount before every shot of dopamine. The closing recitation by Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap rumbles Scottish: “So let our atoms melt together, let our nuclei converge.” On a disc exploding with ideas from ∞ (Infinity) to beyond, the vastness of the universe is often invoked, but falling in love takes time. (7:20pm, Yellow stage)
This article appears in November 7 • 2014.
