BRETON composer Yann Tiersen has shared the mesmerising new video for “Poull Boujer”, the latest track he’s divulged from his August album for Mute, Kerber – you can watch that below; and announced details of a massive worldwide tour, beginning later this year in North America and coming to Europe in 2022. The dates include performances at London’s Roundhouse, Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall and Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall next February.
Directed by Murat Gökmen, the live session video for “Poull Bojer” is a hauntingly beautiful longform piece that unfolds in an elemental, subaquatic ambience and depicts the interplay between the electronics and the source material on the album, with hypnotic manipulations of Tiersen beamed back on screens throughout Yann’s Breton island studio.
We’re told the forthcoming album, Kerber, marks a new chapter for Yann: one that begins with his most overtly electronic material to date: a beautifully textured, highly immersive and thoughtfully constructed electronic world.
He explains: “You may get this intuitive thinking of, ‘oh it’s piano stuff’, but actually it’s not.
“I worked on piano tracks to begin with but that’s not the core of it, they are not important. The context is the most important thing – the piano was a precursor to create something for the electronics to work around.”
Working in The Eskal, the studio he built on Ushant, the island where he lives, 30km off the west coast of Brittany, Yann spent the spring writing the piano parts; then the summer creating a sample bank for the Elektron Octatrack using these parts as inspiration, following the chord progressions, and employing instruments such as the seminal early electronic instrument the ondes Martenot, mellotron and harpsichord. These were then in turn subsequently transformed, reshaped and processed; a album layered and layered and layered once more.
What then followed, with producer Gareth Jones was three weeks of working with electronics, sampling, resampling and processing sounds to create an immersive soundscape.
Yann’s tour will begin in LA on Tuesday, November 9th, with a performance at the Fonda Theatre, and will then continue as follows:
Wednesday, November 10th, Berkeley, California, The UC Theatre;
Friday, November 12th, Portland, Oregon, Crystal Ballroom;
Saturday, November 13th, Vancouver, Vogue Theatre;
Sunday, November 14th, Seattle, Neptune;
Wednesday, November 17th, Chicago, Metro;
Thursday, November 18th, Detroit, Crofoot Ballroom;
Friday, November 19th, Toronto, Phoenix Concert Hall;
Saturday, November 20th, Montreal, MTelus;
Monday, November 22nd, Quebec City, Le Capitole;
Tuesday, November 23rd, Boston, Massachusetts, Berklee Performance Center;
Friday, November 26th, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Steel;
Saturday, November 27th, Washington DC, 930 Club, and then continuing in Europe next year as follows:
Wednesday, January 29th, Stockholm, Filadelfia;
Thursday, January 30th, Gothenburg, Tradgarn;
Friday, January 31st, Copenhagen, Opera House;
Saturday, February 1st, Malmö, Concert House;
Sunday, February 2nd, Hamburg, Laeizhalle;
Tuesday, February 4th, Berlin, Tempodrom;
Friday, February, 7th, Milan, Teatro Arcimboldi;
Sunday, February 9th, Dusseldorf, Tonhalle;
Monday, February 10th, Brussels, Cirque Royale;
Wednesday, February 12th, London, Roundhouse;
Friday, February 14th, Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall;
Saturday, February 15th, Manchester, Bridgewater Hall;
Tuesday, February 18th, Roubaix, Colisée de Roubaix;
Wednesday, February 19th, Strasbourg, La Laiterie;
Thursday, February 20th, Dijon, La Vapeur;
Saturday, February 22nd, Montpellier, Le Corum:
Sunday, February 23rd, Toulouse, Le Bikini;
Monday, February 24th, Biarritz, La Gare du Midi;
Tuesday, February 25th, Bordeaux, Krakatoa;
Wednesday, February 26th, La Rochelle, La Sirene;
Friday, February 28th, Tours, Le Grand Theatre:
Tuesday, March 1st, Clermont-Ferrand, La Coopérative de Mai, and
Wednesday, March 2nd, Rouen, Le 106.
More can be found on how to purchase tickets at the live page of Yann’s website, here.
Kerber will be released by Mute on August 27th digitally, on CD, and on the following vinyl options: a deluxe limited clear vinyl edition with unique artwork in a PVC sleeve (1000 only); limited edition white vinyl with a poster, and trad black. You can pre-order your copy here.
It will be preceded by a book of sheet music on July 20th; published by Hal Leonard, the folio will feature all seven pieces presented for solo piano.
A series of limited edition bundles (including t-shirt, tote bag, sheet music and poster) will also be available from Yann’s website.
Connect with Yann at his website, and on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
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