London’s Hammersmith Apollo is a sea of red berets and striped mariniere t-shirts. If you’re a fan of the hit fantasy game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, by French developers Sandfall Interactive, you’ll recognise this mischievously Gallic dress-up as the viral ‘Baguette’ outfit. In recent months, it’s become the unofficial uniform of the game’s sold-out orchestral tour. At tonight’s gig, there’s an excitable buzz in the air as cosplaying punters take to their seats.
The room goes quiet as the seven-piece band and vocalist Alice Duport-Percier walk out to perform achingly beautiful ballad ‘Alicia’. The rest of the Curieux Orchestra soon join them, alongside conductor Daniel Sicard who interrupts ‘The Departure / Taking Down The Paintress’ to deliver a rousing speech about togetherness, unity and strength. It’s pulled straight from the magical game but makes perfect sense amid the throng of passionate fans.
Lorien Testard, the mastermind behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s beloved soundtrack, looks a little taken aback at the deafening screams that accompany his arrival onstage but he quickly eases into proceedings, delivering squealing guitar solos and bouncing across the boards with the same liberated freedom as a kid performing in the mirror.
“It feels like an immense gift for all of us to be playing these shows and I know I’m so lucky to get the chance to do it,” he tells NME a few days later. “It’s really important that people feel like they’ve lived a moment with us, and we’ve shared something special… If that means making jokes onstage or conducting with an actual baguette, hopefully it’ll be something they remember.”
For the uninitiated, Clair Obscur was the breakout title of 2025 – winning basically every Game Of The Year award going and boasting a stonkingly dramatic score that’s so popular (1.2million Spotify streamers per month) it can fill some of Europe’s most famous venues.
And yet its architect’s dream was never to play at being a rockstar. Yes, he picked up a guitar when he was 16. Yes, he played in a few local bands around France. And, yes, he used to teach too – but all Testard says he’s ever wanted to do was make music for video games.
“I’ve played them my whole life,” he explains, “I love the immersion and imagination of [the medium]. I’ve spent so much time listening to [my favourite] soundtracks that I feel like they’ve become a part of me.”
Now 31, Testard spent years crafting songs at home for his own imagined gaming projects before Clair Obscur came along. Creator Guillaume Broche had grown bored of life at major developers Ubisoft and had recently set up a studio to work on his first solo venture, a love-letter to the turn-based combat games he grew up playing. Broche needed someone to orchestrate the story and discovered Testard’s deeply personal creations on Soundcloud. He reached out.
After hitting it off immediately, Broche showed Testard a “pretty rough draft” of the game. He was taken by its fully-realised universe, the emotionally-charged plot and the ambition of what Guillaume wanted to build. The pair had grown up loving different fantasy worlds (Testard played a lot of The Legend Of Zelda, Guillaume was more of a Final Fantasy fan) but they both knew how crucial music was in making a game feel alive. Testard signed up on the spot. “I didn’t know it would take five years though,” he grins.
Despite this being his first composing job, Testard didn’t look around at what other game soundtracks were doing or go trawling through Spotify for ideas. “I was just so immersed in the world of Clair Obscur, all my inspiration came from concept art, the story or what the team were working on,” he says. “I was completely free to make what I wanted – and I created music that felt right for whatever was happening in the game.”
The end result is an epic eight-hour 156-song collection that encompasses beautiful, orchestral character themes (‘Alicia’), jazzy yet ominous boss battle anthems (‘Une vie a t’aimer’) and funky odes to exploration (‘World Map – In Lumiere’s Name’). Unlike a lot of fantasy role-playing game soundtracks, Testard’s music often features vocals – with the majority delivered by classically-trained singer Alice Duport-Percier. “I love the human voice and how much emotion there is behind it,” he says. “When I heard Alice sing, I could really feel her soul and I wanted to share that with the players.”
It’s perhaps this emotional core that’s helped so many people connect with Testard’s compositions. The game starts with a plucky band of doomed individuals heading out to stop The Paintress from wiping out everyone over a certain age. There’s more than one devastating loss along the way, with those brave adventurers banded together by the motto: “For those who come after”.
Live, Testard isn’t afraid of dragging up these moments of sorrow and there are definitely some teary eyes in the London audience. But the show is also a proud, optimistic celebration of togetherness, from the narrative journey to the moments of crowd interaction that make it feel less like a classical performance and more akin to an arena rock gig. Fans clap along to the cinematic post-rock of ‘Goblu / Rain From The Ground’ like it’s ‘We Will Rock You’ at Wembley Stadium.
What’s really impressive is that when Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launched last April, there were no plans for a tour. That only changed when promoters from around the world reached out to Sandfall and Testard’s inbox was flooded with praise. “It’s so surreal and immense. I still need to take time to process it all,” he admits.” I feel like I’ve lived 10 years in just [12 months].”
Not wanting to let anyone down, he moved “impossibly fast” to meet demand and in October, ‘A Painted Symphony’ premiered in Lyon’s 3,220 capacity L’Amphithéâtre 3000. “There are a thousand decisions when creating a tour and I wanted to be the one to make them,” Testard says of his hands-on approach, which includes playing guitar onstage every night. He also worked closely with conductor Daniel Sicard to curate a setlist that would tell the story of Clair Obscur without the need for video screens. “I don’t like gameplay footage at concert tours. For me, it’s important to be present with the musicians because it’s such an incredible moment of being together and experiencing something [as one].”
Creating something that’s become so much bigger than himself is perhaps why Testard isn’t bothered about being ignored by the Grammys earlier this year. Fans were outraged when the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 soundtrack wasn’t nominated in the Best Video Game Score category and eventual winner Austin Wintory even dedicated his trophy to Testard’s music. “Don’t worry, it’s okay,” he says today about the perceived snub. “The biggest gift I could receive is seeing how loved the music is.”
‘A Painted Symphony’ has dates booked until the end of July and the website promises more will be announced soon. “I really don’t know what the future will be [beyond that],” says Testard. “I love doing the concerts. I love performing with the orchestra and the singers. I don’t know how long the tour will be… but let’s see.”
Like a lot of the team behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, he still finds the game’s continued success “overwhelming” but mostly there’s “a profound sense of joy” about what they’ve created. As red and white confetti rains down inside Hammersmith Apollo during majestic encore ‘Maelle’, he’s certainly not the only one feeling joyful.