Le Phare
# Le Phare

For the proposed skyscraper in Paris, see Le Phare (skyscraper).

Le Phare (English: The Lighthouse) is the third studio album by French composer Yann Tiersen. This was the artist's breakthrough album. He collaborated with distinguished French songwriter Dominique A (who wrote and provided vocals to both "Monochrome" and "Les Bras de mer"). It is typical of Tiersen's work for violin, mandolin, accordion and piano to feature heavily. Also a trademark feature of his style is unusual instrumentation, including a bicycle wheel, typewriters and saucepans. Three songs from this album, "La Dispute", "La Noyée", and "Sur le fil" were used later for Tiersen's soundtrack for the film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain. "L'Homme aux bras ballants" is also the soundtrack to a short film by the same name by Laurent Gorgiard. "Sur le fil" has become a live favourite, normally only the violin section performed with great intensity, sometimes even breaking many hairs on the bow.

## Reception

Professional ratings :

| Review scores ||
| - | - |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Yann Tiersen except track #12, "Les Bras de mer", written by Dominique A.

## Personnel

This also contains all the instruments used on the album.

## Charts

| Chart (1998) | Peak position |
| - | - |
| French Albums Chart | 50 |

## Certifications and sales

| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
| - | - | - |
| France (SNEP) | Gold | $100,000^*$ |
| $^*$ Sales figures based on certification alone. |||

According to Music for New Zealand the album has sold over 160,000 copies.

