Album Review: Yann Tiersen - Skyline

Multi-instrumentalist composer Yann Tiersen is perhaps best known for his soundtrack to the film Amélie, but if you expect his new album Skyline to feature more of the same bittersweet piano-accordion music, you're in for a surprise. Tiersen's 17-year career has encompassed a variety of styles, and his latest release is a meditative, lightly experimental post-rock album, with hardly an accordion in sight. The elaborately layered sound often recalls artists like M83 and Explosions In The Sky, while The Gutter is reminiscent of post-rock icons Godspeed You! Black Emperor in the way it slowly builds in intensity to a crashing climax, offset by a crackly sample of a Spanish radio broadcast.

Yann Tiersen himself plays almost all instruments on the album, from synths to guitars to violin to glockenspiel, although at times it sounds as though an entire orchestra is involved. Most tracks include vocals, but they're used as another instrument in the mix, rather than anything approaching a traditional pop song. On Forgive Me, another of the album's highlights, a chorus chants the two words of the title repeatedly, taking on a eerily hypnotic quality. Perhaps the only misstep is the opening of Exit 25 Block 20, featuring Tiersen barking and howling maniacally, accompanied by a sweet toy piano melody. On paper it sounds like an interesting idea, but in execution it's more annoying than effective, and this track may have many listeners reaching for the skip button, which would be unfortunate, since the second half of that song is rather beautiful.

On the final track, Vanishing Point, elements from several other songs resurface briefly, bringing a satisfying sense of closure to a highly rewarding album.