“the kind of … album that deserves to grow into a cult hit” – Higher Plain
Multidisciplinary Breton artist Émilie Tiersen – aka QUINQUIS – has shared Keeley Forsyth’s remix of the opening track from her new album, Seim.
Listen to the remix here
Over the course of two albums and several years, Émilie has made music as Tiny Feet and on this new album, her debut for Mute, she changed her name to QUINQUIS. The name change is symbolic; simultaneously paying homage to her personal and family history by referencing her maiden name, as well as representing a fresh start musically. “It’s been a new start for many things,” Émilie says. “Self- acceptance has been a really big thing for me.”
From forging a deeper connection to her own culture, history and identity, to exploring new musical terrain and becoming a mother, it’s been a period filled with significant change. It was during this time that she began to explore new ideas. “I was on tour with Yann and our baby,” she recalls. “During my baby’s nap I created a rule for myself: to come up with one new idea in every new city. From the very beginning this was a journey.”
Soon people began to join Émilie on this journey. Characters – some from her own life, others rooted in the history of Breton culture – began to come alive in song ideas. She discovered Ankou, a servant of death in Breton mythology who comes to see you in the year that you die; she explored Seiz Breur, a 1923 Breton art movement founded by a young woman in the very same small village she is from; she tapped into the lives of friends, exploring a rich tapestry of people, places, emotions and stories all tied together by a shared commonplace: Brittany. “I put the stories of those people around mine so that I could have them share this journey with me.”
Once these ideas began to mutate into something more musical, she connected with producer and artist Gareth Jones (Sunroof, Liars, Depeche Mode and Apparat). Initially he was going to play synth but their partnership grew into something more collaborative. “The record revealed itself in the back-and-forth Gareth and I had,” she says. “It was really unexpected because Gareth and I are quite the opposite – he was the light to my darkness.”
This sense of interconnectedness leads to the album being a multifaceted one. It is deeply personal and introspective yet also collaborative and expansive. It is rooted in both historical and modern stories. It is an album that connects worlds while being entirely its own. “There is something cosmic about it,” says Émilie. “I don’t know how to explain that but the way it happened with Gareth, and the way everything just suddenly all came together feels like cosmic harmony.”
The result is an album that merges sparse electronics, immersive atmospherics, and deft melodies, carried by Émilie’s tender yet quietly soaring vocals, which are all sung in Breton.
After recent performances at Sea Change festival and on tour supporting Algiers, QUINQUIS returns to the road as very special guest of Yann Tiersen this summer – full dates below.
QUINQUIS EUROPEAN TOUR – 2022
9 July – Les Nocturnes Festival, Bignan (FR) – NEW DATE
10 July – Milan (IT), Teatro Arcimboldi – with Yann Tiersen
11 July – Rome (IT), Cavea Auditorium Parco della Musica (Luglio Suona Bene) – with Yann Tiersen
12 July – Martina Franca (IT), Bosco delle Pianelle – with Yann Tiersen
13 July – Bologna (IT), Parco Caserme Rosse (Sequoie Music Park) – with Yann Tiersen
14 July – Turin (IT), Parco Certosa Collegno (Flower Festival) – with Yann Tiersen
16 July – Barcelona (ES), Festival Jardins de Pedralbes – with Yann Tiersen
21 July – Cascais (PT), EDP CoolJazz – with Yann Tiersen
4 September – Geneva (CH), Alhambra – with Yann Tiersen
7 September – Brussels (BE), Cirque Royale – with Yann Tiersen
8 September – London (UK), Roundhouse – with Yann Tiersen
10 September – Berlin (DE), Tempodrom – with Yann Tiersen
12 September – Malmo (SE), Malmo Concert Hall – with Yann Tiersen
13 September – Gothenburg (SE), Pustervik – with Yann Tiersen
15 September – Stockholm (SE), Filadelfia – with Yann Tiersen
17 September – Optimisme Ambient Festival, Lyon (FR) – NEW DATE
18 September – Paris (FR), La Gaîté Lyrique – with Yann Tiersen
19 September – Paris (FR), La Gaîté Lyrique – with Yann Tiersen
21 September – Roubaix (FR), La Colisee – with Yann Tiersen
22 September – Rouen (FR), Le 106 – with Yann Tiersen
23 September – Nancy (FR), L’autre Canal – with Yann Tiersen
24 September – Dijon (FR), La Vapeur – with Yann Tiersen
27 September – La Rochelle (FR), La Sirene – with Yann Tiersen
28 September – Bordeaux (FR), Krakatoa – with Yann Tiersen
29 September – Toulouse (FR), Le Bikini – with Yann Tiersen
30 September – Clermont-Ferrand (FR), Cooperative de Mai – with Yann Tiersen
1 October – Marseille (FR), Le Moulin – with Yann Tiersen
4 October – Tours (FR), Le Temps Machine – with Yann Tiersen
5 October – Grenoble (FR), La Belle Electrique – with Yann Tiersen
6 October – Strasbourg (FR), La Laiterie – with Yann Tiersen
SEIM is out now as a limited edition Dinked Edition with flexi-disc and signed, numbered print; clear vinyl, CD and digitally: https://mute.ffm.to/seim
“Matching luminous electronics to drifting sonic textures, [opening track] ‘Adkrog’ revolves around a digital pulse, encouraging us to view it from several different angles” – CLASH
