Email to a Friend

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Live DC: Yann Tiersen / Asobi Seksu @ Maison Francaise

April 17, 2009 by Bao

all words and photos: Bao Nguyen

Growing up in the typical Asian household, my parents encouraged me to take up a musical instrument in the hopes that my yellow complexion automatically equated to musical talent. I would fit the stereotype and become that child prodigy or for their purposes, the breadwinner that would support the family on the keys of a piano or the strings of a violin. My sister took up the former so I decided to try my hands on the latter. Unfortunately for my parents, I failed miserably. In fact, the only failing grade I ever earned during my days in elementary school was for “Instrumental Music”. Let’s just chalk it up as one of my many attempts to break stereotypes. Last night at La Maison Francaise, stereotypes were broken again and my childhood memories of the violin resurfaced as I watched Yann Tiersen perform for the first time ever in the United States.

At the French Embassy tucked away in a small auditorium reminiscent of the school auditoriums I performed at as a child, a mixed crowd of the French and Francophiles waited for Yann Tiersen to the take the stage. The opener was Asobi Seksu, a New York-based band that can be categorized under the shoegazing indie rock genre. Originating from the early 2000 New York rock scene, the band has failed to follow the successful path of some of their contemporaries such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Strokes and fallen into relative obscurity with other contemporaries such as as stellastarr* and Ambulance LTD.

The band’s songs are well-crafted and layered yet they seem to be stuck in the role of the perennial opening band. Their sound is too big to play a small club yet their fame too small to fill a massive ballroom. As one member of the audience noted to another at the end of their set, “I like their music but who are they?”. Hopefully they will be able to break out of the opening band role soon as their music deserves a wider audience.

Yann Tiersen came onstage a few minutes after 8:30 PM, backed by a five-person band (guitar, bass, back-up singer, multi-instrumentalist, and drummer), playing a 1 hour 30 minute set with two encores. Tiersen is probably best known, and in many cases only known, for his composition of the universally beloved French film, Amélie. However, his musical range is deep and goes well beyond the whimsical and charming compositions of Amélie which will forever invoke the imagery of Paris each time I hear them. Concert goers who were hoping to see Tiersen in his role as the classical composer were met with the rock and roll incarnation of Tiersen instead.

His set was a mix of songs sung in French and English and post-rock instrumentals that can be described as cathartic mini-symphonies. His compositions are minimalist but all the songs tend to build up to grand climax, creating a sense of euphoria in the band members’ faces as they played their instruments. It was difficult for me to fully embrace the emotion of the music because of the lack of lighting changes onstage. Not once throughout the entire performance did the lighting change, perhaps because of the set-up of the venue but I thought this really took away from the performance. Tiersen’s music is complimented by the visual and escapist emotions it invokes, one of the reasons I think Amélie’s director Jean-Pierre Jeunet chose Tiersen for the score. Like the band members I closed my eyes to try to put myself in the emotion of the music but as soon as I opened them I realized I was just fooling myself. Other than this, Tiersen’s performance shined and was carried with his very apparent musical talent. He switches between a guitar and violin throughout his set but it’s his talents with the violin thats makes the performance. The violin becomes an extension of his body which moves with an elasticity much like Thom Yorke during one of his infamous stage dances. In good form with breaking the stereotype of the typical classical composer, he ended the set with a rendition of “La Valse D’Amelie” with a slow-tempo electronic introduction met with a full-on rock orchestra at the end.

Email to a Friend

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•