La Valse des monstres

La Valse des monstres (international English title: The Waltz of the Monsters) is the first album released by Breton composer Yann Tiersen. It includes several pieces he wrote as an accompaniment for short films and plays, together with original material. Most tracks had been used for the theatrical adaptation of Freaks, a 1932 American Pre Code horror film directed by Tod Browning, or for the classic Japanese musical drama The Damask Drum, rewritten by Japanese author, poet and playwright, Yukio Mishima in 1955. Only 1,000 copies of the album were pressed when it was released in June 1995 by Sine Terra Firma. It was subsequently reissued by Ici d'ailleurs in 1998 in both CD and vinyl formats.

Tiersen subsequently assembled the album La Valse des monstres out of some tracks he had worked on in 1993, together with other compositions from the following months, and divided the track listing into two sections, each one named after the material it had been inspired by: "Freaks" (comprising the first ten tracks) and "Le Tambourin de Soie" (comprising the remaining seven). Recording took place in Paris in the spring of 1995. The album consists of instrumental acoustic compositions, featuring piano, violin, toy piano, accordion, harpsichord, melodica chime and percussion. Tiersen played all instruments (except for the drums on two tracks) and carried on the mixing himself. Years later the composer spoke about the music from his first three albums, underlining its double nature: "There has always been a context where it's naïve, but also dark and linked to death."