L'Absente


L'Absente is the fourth studio album by French composer and musician Yann Tiersen. When French film director Jean-Pierre Jeunet asked Tiersen if he was interested in writing the film score for Amélie, Tiersen was already working on L'Absente. The album was released on 5 June 2001 through EMI France, and was preceded by two promotional singles for "À quai" and "Bagatelle". L'Absente is an album of great variety with Tiersen playing many instruments including an old-fashioned typewriter and a pot, and it is characterized by several guests contributions provided by the 35-member Ensemble Orchestral Synaxis conducted by Guillaume Bourgogne, French folk rock group Têtes Raides, singers Dominique A, Lisa Germano, Neil Hannon, and Belgian actress Natacha Régnier, ondes Martenot player Christine Ott, Christian Quermalet, guitarist Marc Sens, viola player Bertrand Lambert, violinists Yann Bisquay and Sophie Naboulay, saxophonist Grégoire Simon, and drummer Sacha Toorop. L'Absente peaked at number 41 on the French Albums Chart.

Reception

Track listing

All music and lyrics are written by Yann Tiersen, except as noted.
  1. "À quai" - 4:22
  2. "La Parade" - 3:18 -
  3. "Bagatelle" - 4:40 -
  4. "L'Absente" - 3:18
  5. "Le Jour d'avant" - 5:07
  6. "Les Jours tristes" - 3:20 -
  7. "L'Échec" - 2:50 -
  8. "La Lettre d'explication" - 2:30
  9. "Qu'en reste-t-il?" - 3:40
  10. "Le Méridien" - 4:16 -
  11. "Le Concert" - 2:49 -
  12. "Le Retour" - 5:22
The vinyl edition contains an additional track, "L'Autre lettre", written and recorded by Yann Tiersen and Les Têtes Raides.
A 2×CD limited edition of the album was released through Virgin France in 2001. The second CD contains live versions of the following pieces:
  1. "La Valse d'Amelie"
  2. "Deja Loin"
  3. "Monochrome"
  4. "Bagatelle"
  5. "La Parade"
  6. "Le Jour d'avant"

    Credits

Certifications and sales

Virgin France has stated in 2005 that the album has shipped 250,000 copies worldwide.