Have you ever had a dream that you get trapped in a snowglobe?
No?
… me neither (?)
But let’s pretend that was normal. Because then you’d have some semblance of what it felt like at the Yann Tiersen show. If, again hypothetically, this was a dream – it’s no nightmare. Although trapped is the only word I can think to use for being enclosed in a small, glass globe, this particular environment is quite… magically macabre. The 9:30 Club was low-lit in a melancholy blue with a wandering spotlight when I walked in. The crowd was (appropriately) very Amelie-French-hipster-chic. After passing through a group of aloof-looking smokers in the front of the club (all, I’m sure puffing away on slim Gauloise cigs) I saw, in the first five minutes,numerous polka-dotted dresses, a necker-chief (am I making that word up?), and (mais bien sur) a beret.
The entire scene was out of an old French salon and it felt undeniably cozy (if a little dark and, with the recorded, sad-sounding French singer in the background) if not a little claustrophobic. Any discomfort about the dark atmosphere was dispelled when Yann Tiersen and his band took the stage though. The man was extremely at ease on stage. He took to the keyboard like a natural while still managing to maintain an air of mystery – looking like a slightly tortured genius (with incredibly well-toned arms). Although I would imagine most of the crowd, like myself, were itching to hear Amelie played live, Yann instead focused on his new music, which retains the rich complexity and unique instrumental combinations heard in Amelie, but with a slightly more cosmopolitan sound. This latest record, Infinity, was largely inspired by the artist’s time in Iceland and has a darker feel to it than the light-hearted and whimsical tracks of Amelie.
All in all, I would say I felt as though I was in a snowglobe created by Tim Burton and made audible by Yann Tiersen. It was definitely a memorable place to be.