Yann Tiersen, Asobi Seksu @ La Maison Française

Tiersen's hour-plus set was mostly instrumental with brief vocals or spoken poetry from a female singer or Tiersen himself, and the stage banter was kept to a minimum - a few quiet thank yous and mercis. The all-seated auditorium space added to the silence, as the 350-odd crowd listened intently with virtually no chatter. He didn't introduce the band either, which consisted of Tiersen on guitar and violin, a guitarist, bassist, drummer, keyboard/xylophone player, and the vocalist.

The intensity level stayed high throughout the set, and even when it seemed like things might quiet down, they didn't. When Tiersen put down the guitar and picked up the violin, he played it loudly and blisteringly fast, eventually ending up with bowstrings flinging wildly around his head. On the softer, more acoustic songs toward the end of the set and in the first encore, Tiersen still added some rumbling electronics.

Tiersen is working on a new album, and if the songs he played were any indication, it has a chance of making a splash with the indie rock set -- some songs sounded a bit like Stereolab, others like Acrade Fire, shoegaze, or the Polyphonic Spree. Most of the songs had no introduction, and one where the band members seemed to spell out "Palestine" in unison was a highlight, as was "Fuck Me," a sweet, mid-tempo song that just happens to have an X-rated chorus -- so sweet that you don't realize what is being sung. Tiersen and band also played two encores, which we don't see too often.

Openers Asobi Seksu played a short set, but filled the space with sound. Tiny vocalist Yuki Chikudate has a big voice, and her high notes soared over the band's fuzzy guitar and bass and pounding drums. Both the guitarist and bassist took the shoegaze name literally, looking down and rocking their heads as they coaxed more noise out of their instruments. The band had a bit more banter than Tiersen's set, with Chikudate saying this was their first ever show at an embassy, and that Tiersen had invited them along on his U.S. tour. "Thursday," from 2006's Citrus, sounded even better live, with the sound really expanding in the auditorium, though it wasn't a show made for sitting down. The band is touring behind their new album, Hush, and the new songs continued the trend of big sound and bigger vocals. They served as a good opener, too, with their intensity and noise getting the crowd ready for Tiersen's own.

La Maison Francaise itself is a nice venue, with an auditorium surrounded by a big, airy room filled with art exhibitions. The Maison hosts events like lectures and classical and pop concerts, and other upcoming shows include Nouvelle Vague, Yannick Noah, and the Fete de la Musique, which will feature amateur and street musicians playing around the Embassy's gardens.