Sage Francis - Li(f)e

The much anticipated new release Li(f)e by Sage Francis features more than a few inspired musical collaborations. Yet none of them so seemingly unexpected and ultimately transcendent as the pairing on the track “Best Of Times” featuring the music of noted French composer Yann Tiersen. An intensely inventive classically based multi instrumentalist, Tiersen is perhaps best known for creating the powerfully evocative soundtrack to the beloved 2001 French film “Amélie.”

On the song “Best Of Times,” what begins as simple atmospheric accompaniment, gradually builds into an epic crescendo, providing an absolutely perfect musical score for Francis’ increasingly powerful confessional narrative. As unorthodox a partnership as it might initially appear, the collaboration is by no means a novelty. Sage Francis was well aware of Yann Tiersen before the making of Li(f)e.

“I sought out Yann’s soundtrack for ‘Amelie’ immediately after first seeing the film,” Francis explains. “I would play the main song from it on piano from time to time. And when I received the music from him it just felt so heavy to me, so incredibly epic that I knew I had to make the most of it. I didn’t know what to do and then I stumbled upon this letter that I had written to my girlfriend a few years ago explaining where I was in life and what she meant to me and what I was hoping to accomplish. The very first line of that letter ended up being the first line of the song. And when I put that down, it just sparked all these intense childhood memories. The song ended up being my own little movie with words.”

This entry was posted on Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 2:14 am and is filed under Li(f)e Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.