It was released through Sine Terra Firma in 1996, and subsequently reissued in 1998, 2001, and 2009 through Ici, d'ailleurs... and Virgin Records in CD and double LP formats.

The album, with the exclusion of two pieces, "Naomi" and "La Vie quotidienne", is a collection of short pieces recorded with toy piano, harpsichord, violin, accordion, mandolin, and other conventional and unconventional musical instruments such as an old typewriter in "Pas si simple".

The title track, which was used about one year later for the film score of the Palme d'Or nominated French drama film The Dreamlife of Angels,[2] was sung by French soloist singer Claire Pichet, who also provided vocals on the track "Naomi", a song that features words from Allen Ginsberg's poem "Kaddish".

Three tracks, "J'y suis jamais allé", "Pas si simple", and "Soir de fête", would find a wider audience five years later when they were featured on the soundtrack to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's acclaimed film Amélie.

[3] Music and lyrics by Yann Tiersen, except on "Naomi", which also has words from Allen Ginsberg's "Kaddish".