Yann Tiersen (born 23 June 1970) is a French musician and composer. His musical career is split between studio recordings, music collaborations and film soundtracks songwriting. His music incorporates a large variety of classical and contemporary instruments, primarily the electric guitar, the piano, synthesisers and the violin, but also folkoric instruments like the melodica, xylophone, toy piano, harpsichord, piano accordion or even typewriter.
Tiersen is often mistaken for a soundtrack composer; as he is quoted about himself: "I'm not a composer and I really don't have a classical background," but his real focus is on touring and recording studio albums, which are often used for film soundtracks. Tracks taken from his first three studio albums were used for the soundtrack of the 2001 French film Amélie starring Audrey Tautou.