Biography
Émilie Tiersen channels her work as a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist through the Quinquis project, whose immersive electronic pieces examine history, identity, and transformation. The 2022 album Seim paired songs rooted in her Brittany upbringing with synth textures that suggested vast cosmic space.
Born Émilie Quinquis in the French region of Brittany, she began composing music as a teenager and later assembled the largely acoustic project Tiny Feet. Under that name she issued two albums: Silent in 2014 and As an End to Death in 2017, the latter mixed and co-produced by Gareth Jones.
Marriage and family life with the acclaimed composer and multi-instrumentalist Yann Tiersen prompted a shift in her methods. She began weaving in more electronics and sang in Breton and Faroese rather than the English-and-native-tongue blend she had used with Tiny Feet. Adopting her maiden name as a performing identity, she let Quinquis songs express her affinity for nature as well as the past of Brittany and Ushant, the small island off France’s western coast where she and Yann Tiersen made their home.
To realize her debut album under the Quinquis name she rejoined Jones and also collaborated with Ólavur Jákupsson, who had appeared on As an End to Death, and with writer and endurance cyclist Emily Chappell. The gently pulsing meditation on hope and resilience titled Seim surfaced in May 2022 via Mute.
Born Émilie Quinquis in the French region of Brittany, she began composing music as a teenager and later assembled the largely acoustic project Tiny Feet. Under that name she issued two albums: Silent in 2014 and As an End to Death in 2017, the latter mixed and co-produced by Gareth Jones.
Marriage and family life with the acclaimed composer and multi-instrumentalist Yann Tiersen prompted a shift in her methods. She began weaving in more electronics and sang in Breton and Faroese rather than the English-and-native-tongue blend she had used with Tiny Feet. Adopting her maiden name as a performing identity, she let Quinquis songs express her affinity for nature as well as the past of Brittany and Ushant, the small island off France’s western coast where she and Yann Tiersen made their home.
To realize her debut album under the Quinquis name she rejoined Jones and also collaborated with Ólavur Jákupsson, who had appeared on As an End to Death, and with writer and endurance cyclist Emily Chappell. The gently pulsing meditation on hope and resilience titled Seim surfaced in May 2022 via Mute.
Albums
Singles
