French musician Yann Tiersen is probably best known in the U.S. for his Amelie score, with its gentle, sad, and mostly acoustic songs on piano, guitar, and accordion. In his U.S. debut yesterday at La Maison Française, the French Embassy’s performance space, however, he was much more Yann the rocker rather than Yann the minimalist composer.

People looking forward to “La Valse d’Amelie” were probably disappointed, as Tiersen and five band members played mostly very loud, sometimes avant-garde rock music with muscular guitars and booming bass and drums. The show started with Tiersen and another band member playing melodicas, then quickly increased in volume. The closest song to Amelie and his other film scores, like Goodbye, Lenin and La Haine, came just before the first encore, and some older, well-dressed attendees filtered out as the noise level increased (especially after one particularly noisy portion towards the beginning of the set when the band built in intensity and noise for a few minutes before cutting off). It was exciting, interesting, and unexpected music, though an embassy staff member set the tone before the set when he asked people to turn off their cell phones, adding they probably wouldn’t hear them anyway.