Yann Tiersen has announced a new album, ‘Portrait’, featuring tracks from across his career re-recorded with guest musicians, including John Grant, Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys and Stephen O’Malley of Sunn o))). Blonde Redhead also join him on one of three new songs written for the release.

“The apparent lightness or simplicity of some of my tracks has always been a disguise or reaction to their darker side”, he says of revisiting his older work. “For instance ‘La Dispute’ is about extreme violence, blood, death and the strange state of shock you feel in the moments after something horrible has happened”.

He then goes on: “That’s one of my darkest tracks and I’ve always felt uncomfortable with the idea of people thinking it’s a romantic thing to listen to on a date. People seemed to understand it when it was first released, but the use of my music for cinematic purposes put a sort of false mask on the face of the monster. I feel that ‘Portrait’ puts my tracks in context again so people can listen to my music and see it for what it is and not for what it’s been used for”.