Tiersen has been honing his musical aesthetic since he could stand on two legs. He started learning piano at the age of four, taking up violin at the age of six and receiving classical training at musical academies in Rennes, Nantes and Boulogne. Then, at the age of 13, he chose to alter his destiny, breaking his violin into pieces, buying a guitar and forming a rock band.
Yann Tiersen has collaborated with vocal artists like Claire Pichet ("Le phare" and "Rue des cascades"), Elizabeth Fraser ("Les retrouvailles") and Shannon Wright ("Yann Tiersen and Shannon Wright"). Other musicians he has worked with include The Divine Comedy, Noir Désir, Dominique A., Francoiz Breut, Les Têtes Raides, The Married Monk and Sage Francis
Tiersen got a musical education from the city of Rennes' annual Transmusicales festival, seeing acts like Nirvana, Einstürzende Neubaten, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, The Cramps, Television and Suicide. When his band broke up a few years later, instead of hunting for some new musicians, he bought a cheap mixing desk, an eight-track reel, and started recording music solo with a synth, sampler and drum machine, poring over the grooves of old records on the hunt for loops and orchestral strings to plunder.
As it turned out, though, the key to his new approach lay in his own past. "One day I thought, instead of spending days on research and listening to tons of records to find the nearest sound of what I have in mind, why don't I fix this fucking violin and use it?" Through the summer of 1993, Tiersen stayed in his apartment, recording music alone with guitar, violin and accordion, guided not by the classical canon, but by intuition and his vision of "a musical anarchy".
By the end of the summer of 1993, Tiersen had recorded over 40 tracks, which would form the bulk of his first two albums. 1995's La Valse Des Monstres, inspired by Tod Browning's Freaks and Yukio Mishima's The Damask Drum was the second album to be released on Nancy-based label Ici, d'ailleurs. It would be followed six months later by Rue Des Cascades, a collection of short pieces recorded with toy piano, harpsichord, violin, accordion and mandolin. Six years later, the record would find a much larger audience when several tracks, along with a couple of Tiersen originals, would be used on the soundtrack to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's film Amelie (2001).
Tiersen's commercial breakthrough would come earlier, though, and off his own back. 1998's Le Phare (The Light House) was recorded in self-imposed seclusion on the isle of Ouessant, where Tiersen spent two months living in a rented house. At night, he watched the Creach'h, the most powerful lighthouse in Europe, as it illuminated the surrounding scenery. "I was amazed how the rays of lights from the lighthouse revealed some hidden details of the land, how we can rediscover something we have everyday, just in front of us, by a light pointing on it," says Tiersen.
Le Phare went on to sell over 160,000 copies, confirming Tiersen's status as one of the most pioneering and original artists of his generation and commencing a run of successful albums like 2001's L'Absente (featuring orchestral group Synaxis, Lisa Germano and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon) and 2005's Les Retrouvailles (with guests Stuart Staples of Tindersticks, Jane Birkin and Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins). In this period, Tiersen also took his music out around the world, playing shows with a full orchestra and an amplified string quartet – a set-up captured on 2002's electrifying live album C'etait ici. And following the box-office success of Amelie, Tiersen's skills as a soundtracker were much in demand, leading to scores for the likes of Wolfgang Becker's tragicomedy Good Bye Lenin! (2003) and Tabarly (2008), a documentary about the French sailor Éric Tabarly, who ate his final meal on Ouessant Island before he meeting a watery end in the Irish sea.
Discography:
La valse des monstres (1995)
Rue des cascades (1996)
Le phare (1998)
Tout est calme (1999)
Black session (1999, radio concert)
L'absente (2001)
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001, Soundtrack)
C'était ici (2002, Live and Best Of)
Good Bye Lenin! (2003, Soundtrack)
Yann Tiersen and Shannon Wright (2004)
Les Retrouvailles (2005)
On Tour (2006, Live)
Tabarly (2008)
Dust Lane (2010)
The Gutter
Yann Tiersen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Try to reach the sea
Try to reach the sea
Try to reach the sea
The repetition of the phrase "Try to reach the sea" in Yann Tiersen's song The Gutter reflects the human desire to seek something larger and unattainable. The sea, being vast and unfathomable, may represent a dream, an ideal or even death, that the singer is struggling to reach. The song may also symbolize the struggle of life, where humans face a series of hurdles and obstacles but they keep trying to overcome them to reach their destination, to achieve their goals. In this context, the sea might represent the ultimate destination we all strive for - be it happiness or success.
The lyrics of the song are simple yet powerful. The repetitive nature of the phrase suggests that the quest for something unattainable is a never-ending process. It is a journey that we must embark on but, in the end, we may not find what we are looking for. In this respect, the song may also suggest a sense of resignation to the futility of life's aspirations.
Line by Line Meaning
Try to reach the sea
An urging desire to move towards the vastness and tranquility of the ocean, perhaps as a means of escaping the chaos and challenges of daily life.
Try to reach the sea
A persistent longing to connect with something infinite and eternal, embodied by the vastness and immutability of the sea.
Try to reach the sea
A symbolic journey towards self-discovery and inner peace, encapsulated by the metaphor of navigating towards the sea.
Try to reach the sea
A metaphorical representation of the quest for meaning and purpose in life, often characterized by a yearning for something beyond the quotidian routines and mundane existence.
Writer(s): Yann Tiersen
Contributed by Grayson E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@TheCgelarden
Not sure whats up with the crazy shortcuts on the lyrics! This is Yan Tiersen! Get it right! Let's start, in the gutter
Let's start, in the gutter
Let's start, in the gutter
Try to reach the sea
Try to reach the sea
Let's move in the living the world
Let's move in the living world
In the gutter
In the gutter
In the gutter
In the gutter
In the gutter
In in in in
Oh oh oh oh
Moving in The world The world
Let's start in the gutter
Let's start in the gutter
Try to reach the sea
Try to reach the sea
Let's move in the living world
Let's move in the living world
Let's move in the living world
Let's move in the living world
In the gutter
In the gutter
In the gutter
Try to reach the sea
Try to reach the sea
Let's move into the living the world
Let's move into the living world
In the gutter
In the gutter
In the gutter
In the gutter
In the gutter
In in in in
Oh oh oh oh
Moving in The world The world
Let's start in the gutter
Let's start in the gutter
Try to reach the sea
Try to reach the sea
Let's move into the living world
Let's move into the living world
Let's move into the living world
Let's move into the living world
In the gutter
In the gutter
In the gutter
@tigerlilly2012
This live is excellent, better than the record. One of my favorite songs of Yann Tiersen
@diegomendez6204
Amazing!!! nobody seems to notice that Yann Tiersen is right there in front of everybody. This is the side effect of taking a genius out of the concert hall and put it right on the street. The lack of appreciation toward music and art in general can be seen among individuals that go about their life without even asking what is the origin of this sublime sound.
@kknn7408
На самом деле это его простота делает его гениальным. Он не отделяет себя от массы простолюдинов и для него это нормально
@raindrop1746
Sorprendente la forma en la que no aprecian la Música de ese genio en las calles de Barcelona! :'V
Lastima que nunca lo veré de esa forma aquí en México! :'(
@dub5674
@Death-metal y Death-core Subgéneros de donde sacaste la información, viejo?
Siempre que viene me lo pierdo
¿Sabes si vuelve también a CDMX?
@dub5674
@Death-metal y Death-core Subgéneros jaja no recordaba este comentario,
Preguntaba porque hace 7 meses no tenía redes sociales pero apenas hace unos días "volví al vicio" jaja
Estaré pendiente.
@yannpierr5032
maravillosa melodía. gracias yann tiersen . lastima que la gente en las calles de Barcelona no aprecian la música de este genio . que mal
@waterviolet27
Es realmente alucinante, tiersen es un maestro!!!
@SlotMachineBassist
Absolutely loved it. Especially the end: "You fine?" "Yeah, my phone went off..."
@TheCgelarden
Nice touch at the end!