A native of Brest in Brittany, Tiersen showed a strong interest in music from an early age. He studied violin, piano and conducting at the conservatoires of Rennes, Nantes and Boulogne. Being a modern minded young man, he also tried his hand at rock and variety before returning to his first love: music. Having already scored for the theatre and short films, he took the plunge and in 1995, thanks to an association with the Terra Firma label (now renamed Ici, d'ailleurs) released an album, La Valse Des Monstres (The Waltz of the Monsters).

Yann Tiersen's fame has been built on his live performances. Each of his concerts is a performance where each night he gives a new, highly personal interpretation of his compositions. The fact that he has chosen to produce the album himself has only rendered the tracks yet more poignant. Tiersen well appreciates that virtuosity must be matched with restraint and intensity. He adds to this a feeling for composition that evokes Nino Rota for cheerfulness, Erik Satie for sorrow and the Penguin Cafe' Orchestra for vagabond charm.

Rue des Cascades followed La Valse des Monstres in 1996. Two tracks of this album saw a marriage between the music of Tiersen and the crystal clear vocals of Claire Pichet. This alliance was to open his mind to further collaborations; it came as no surprise when he chose Dominique A to provide the vocals for two of the tracks ( Monochrome and Les Bras de Mer (The Arms of the Sea) ) on his third opus, Le Phare. Nor to hear Tiersen himself singing on the album's final track, L'Effrondement (The Drowning).

Le Phare was still to be released when Tiersen set out on the road with a totally new show, also called Le Phare. It is more a performance than a straight concert, with Tiersen himself the subject, illustrated by scenery and lighting effects. He performed Le Phare at the 1997 Transmusicales festival in Rennes, France, and is touring it throughout 1998, except for when he is providing live accompaniment to Chaplin's The Kid, or playing the role of a musician in the play Le Funambule (The Tightrope Walker). As well as being a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist, Yann Tiersen is boundlessly prolific.