Yann Tiersen & QUINQUIS | 22 August – Liverpool, 24 Kitchen St

Yann Tiersen & QUINQUIS have embarked on a unique summer tour that will see the two Breton artists travel from their home in Ushant, and set sail for a tour of Celtic lands and the Faroe Islands.

With a series of performances already confirmed, Tiersen and QUINQUIS will be travelling on their sailboat, Ninnog – named after a medieval mother superior, who travelled from Wales to Brittany becoming a protector of women and a champion of sustainability and forestry – to a series of performances in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, England and the Faroe Islands. Read the tour manifesto to find out more about their aims, and watch a short film about the tour here.

The tour is intended as a direct political statement on the ecological impact of large scale touring, inviting us to examine established methods of touring and performance.

With several shows already booked in June, July, August and September, taking in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales as well as Liverpool and the Faroe Islands, the artists have invited communities to suggest places for them to perform along the route – churches, communes, pubs, squats, beaches and gardens – with the aim of offering an alternative way to experience performance, for both the audience and the artists.

YANN TIERSEN will release ‘Kerber Complete‘, a box set that collates four very different versions of his 2021 album, ‘Kerber’ – out 15 September 2023 on CD and digitally via Mute.

Listen to ‘Ker al Loch (Four Ways)’, which shows the journey the track has taken – through sampling and modular synthesis, solo piano, recomposed, and remixed (here by Terence Fixmer): https://mute.ffm.to/yt_kalfw.

‘Kerber Complete’ will collate ‘Kerber’, Yann Tiersen’s 2021 album built on modular synthesis and sampling; 11 5 18 2 5 18, the modular recomposition of ‘Kerber’; a brand new solo piano recording of ‘Kerber’ and an album of remixes and reworkings from the likes of Terence Fixmer, Beatrice Dillon and Laurel Halo, as well as remixes by Tiersen of NEU!, Keeley Forsyth, Michael Price and Simon Fisher Turner & Edmund de Waal.

While 2021’s ‘Kerber’ saw Tiersen incorporating modular synthesis and sampling into the recording process, his follow up album, ‘11 5 18 2 5 18′, was born from further experimentation in the studio as the artist prepared for a performance at Berlin’s modular and synthesiser festival, Superbooth. Using samples as his source, Tiersen resampled, reprogrammed and recomposed existing audio to create entirely new tracks unrecognisable and decontextualised from their original versions.

‘Kerber Complete’ brings the story a full circle as he compliments the two albums with remixes from across ‘Kerber‘ and an album of newly recorded piano versions of the tracks – piano being the original source of the samples for ‘Kerber’.

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Yann Tiersen has been involved in music for most of his life, pushing boundaries with varied instrumentation – vintage synthesisers, modular synthesis, piano, violin, Ondes Martenot – while exploring our connection with nature, place and his love of Celtic languages, that includes his native Breton.

Émilie Tiersen released ‘SEIM‘, her debut album as QUINQUIS on Mute in spring 2022 after a series of releases as Tiny Feet. The album, described by Uncut as “… ethereal, sometimes casually ominous songs… amid flickering synth flourishes” was followed a few months later by a new collection of compositions, the ‘AER’ EP. QUINQUIS’ work is rooted in both historical and modern stories, connecting worlds with electronics and Émilie’s tender yet quietly soaring vocals, all sung in Breton.

TOUR DATES
15 July – Faroe Islands, G Fest (Yann Tiersen & QUINQUIS)
25 July – Shetland, Lerwick, The Bop Shop (QUINQUIS)
26 July – Shetland, Lerwick Acoustic Stage (YANN TIERSEN)
26 July – Shetland, Hymhus Bigton (Yann Tiersen & QUINQUIS)
28 July – Shetland, Fair Isle – Community Centre (Yann Tiersen & QUINQUIS)
2 Aug – Findhorn, Universal Hall, Findhorn Foundation (Yann Tiersen & QUINQUIS)
8 August – Edinburgh, Liquid Room (Yann Tiersen & QUINQUIS)
22 August – Liverpool, 24 Kitchen St (Yann Tiersen & QUINQUIS)
25 August – Wales, Ara Deg (Yann Tiersen)
26 August – Wales, Ara Deg (QUINQUIS)