Composer Yann Tiersen released a new song today titled “Closer,” a collaboration with Blonde Redhead. The single is off the forthcoming album Portrait (Mute) which will be released digitally December 6, as well as on heavyweight triple vinyl January 17, 2020.

The opportunity for Tiersen to record both old and new material lies at the center of Portrait. As well as newly recorded interpretations of tracks spanning his entire career – from his debut album The Waltz of the Monsters (1995) through to Dustlane (2010) and his most recent albums, EUSA and ALL – the album includes three new compositions: “Closer,” ‘Diouz An Noz” and “Thinking Like A Mountain.”
 
Tiersen explains, “I was expecting to write new material for this album, that was always the plan. I had been working on this track for a long time and Emilie [Tiersen] suggested asking Blonde Redhead to sing the song, which was perfect. Unfortunately they couldn’t come to Ushant, so they sent files from New York and Italy. But it worked so well, it was almost as though they were there. I love this band, but we hadn’t met and we still haven’t! They are the exception on this album, but we will meet.”
 
The idea for Portrait presented itself after the completion of Tiersen’s recently built analog studio, The Eskal, on the remote Breton island of Ushant. Collating his work – and working alongside collaborators such as John Grant, Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals, Stephen O’Malley from Sunn O))), and Blonde Redhead – has given Tiersen the opportunity to re-present his music and place it back into its intended context, giving fans an opportunity to rediscover beloved tracks in what Tiersen considers to be their definitive versions.