Alcest

Alcest took an audible step towards their black metal roots with their sophomore full-length "Écailles de Lune" ("Moon Scales") without losing any of the trademarks that had evolved on their debut album "Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde". The French post-black metal pioneers created a sound of lucent, dreamlike quality and otherworldly beauty that has equally defined them and been refined by them ever since. In musical terms, Alcest amalgamate calm, semi-acoustic passages, repetitive, hypnotic patterns, and captivating melodies with outbursts of harsh riffing and aggressive drumming. The same contrasting and complementing effect is used by band founder and guitarist Neige for his vocals. Clean singing that is morphing back and forth between a warm and darker tone and a gentle higher pitch occasionally gets swept aside by despairing shrieks and furious black voices - only to flowingly return like an unstoppable tide. "For this album, I was especially inspired by the sea, the energy, and the exaltation that you can feel when you sit in front of the ocean at night," Neige explained about "Écailles de Lune"?. "The sea appears terribly fascinating, full of secrets, beautiful and frightening at the same time." Alcest's music has received many labels over the years including post-black metal, post-rock, shoegaze, and blackgaze to name some of the more commonly found terms. Yet whatever the band originally from Avignon and now based with Neige in Paris is called, their sound has always remained unique. Another typical element of their albums is a concept or theme that runs through the songs. On "Écailles de Lune" it is a tale of transformation. "This album's story is not a metaphor for death as it might appear to be", says Neige. "To me, it is about a man who decides to literally leave one world for another. It can rather be seen as a passage to another reality or another state of existence." For those, who want to follow in those footsteps and journey to another place, Alcest offer a key. Just close your eyes and listen to "Écailles de Lune" and you will be taken far away to a world of musical wonders and haunting beauty - but beware, even roses of the otherworld have thorns.

Track List

1. Écailles de lune - Part 1
2. Écailles de lune - Part 2
3. Percées de lumière
4. Abysses
5. Solar Song
6. Sur L'Océan Couleur De Fer

Kodama" the fifth album from Blackgaze pioneers, Alcest, marks the French duo's ferocious return to the stylistic maximalism of it's early albums while continuing the band's relentless pursuit for new sounds and fresh ideas.

The quintessence of Alcest "Les voyages de l'Âme" ("The Journeys of the Soul") is Alcest's third album and contains the quintessence of the group's creative work to date. While "Le secret," the debut EP from 2005, was the key to the world of Alcest, "Les voyages..." unites everything that characterises Alcest in terms of concept and music. While an epic composition such as "Là Où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles" would have found it's place also on "Écailles de lune," "Beings of Light" with it's blazing character reminds of the ground-breaking "Le secret." On the other hand, "Autre temps" - the album's first single to which there is also an impressive and visually stunning video clip - is a prime example for the melodic and catchy side of Alcest that initially came to the fore on the band's debut album "Souvenirs d'un autre monde." Something that is common to all of the songs, however, is the predominant feeling of euphoria and bliss, always subtly overshadowed by melancholia and yearning.

Track List

1. Autre Temps
2. Là Où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles
3. Les Voyages De L'me
4. Nous Sommes L'Emeraude
5. Beings Of Light
6. Faiseurs De Mondes
7. Havens
8. Summer's Glory

Shelter is the fourth album by contemporary shoegazers Alcest, the destination of a long creative musical journey into vast new territories. More than ever the French outfit consisting of mastermind and multi-instrumentalist Neige and drummer Winterhalter embraces the dreamy guitar textures of shoegaze and blends it with the sweetness of British band Cocteau Twins - dream pop pioneers of the mid to late 80's era - epic, soundtrack-like melodies and progressive song structures. The album which features guest appearances from Slowdive's Neil Halstead (lead vocals on the song "Away"), Sweden's Promise And The Monster's Billie Lindahl and Amiina's strings sections was recorded at Sundlaugin Studio, Iceland, with Sigur Rós producer Birgir Jón Birgisson who masterfully gave "Shelter" it's light and ethereal sound.

Track List

1. Wings
2. Opale
3. La Nuit Marche Avec Moi
4. Voix Sereines
5. L'eveil Des Muses
6. Shelter
7. Away
8. Délivrance

Released in 2007, Alcest's debut album, "Souvenirs d'un autre monde", marks the starting point of the band's extraordinary career. With the release of "Souvenirs d'un autre monde", Alcest mastermind Neige forged a luminous new sound that floats on the fringes of metal, yet incorporates emotions of euphoria, bliss and nostalgia. The singer and multi-instrumentalist dedicated the album to his childhood memories of experiences in a spiritual otherworld; personal themes that would become conceptual cornerstones of subsequent Alcest albums. "Souvenirs..." became known as one of the fundamental releases of the Blackgaze / Post-Black Metal genre, a record that continually influences countless other bands in it's wake, and was selected by Pitchfork as one of it's best Shoegaze albums of all time.

Track List

1. Printemps Emeraude
2. Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde
3. Les Iris
4. Ciel Errant
5. Sur L'autre Rive Je T'attendrai
6. Tir Nan Og