La Valse d'Amélie

Yann Tiersen's waltz from the Amélie soundtrack has become so thoroughly absorbed into a certain image of Parisian life that it now functions almost as architectural sound — what Paris sounds like in the imagination of people who haven't been there, and also, for those who have, the specific emotional frequency of the film's Paris: whimsical, slightly melancholy, convinced of the importance of small kindnesses. The accordion and piano combination is deceptively simple, built on a three-note motif that repeats and varies with the persistence of a recurring thought. Tiersen's production is warm and slightly worn, as though the music is being heard through a wall. The waltz rhythm creates a circular feeling, something that keeps returning to its starting point. This piece demonstrates how completely a piece of music can become attached to a specific imagined geography, and how that attachment — once made — becomes irreversible.