Alcest

A thread for Alcest.
Loved "Souvenirs.." from 2007. A new lp titled "Ecailles De Lune" to be released March 29th. Excited to hear this release

Track listing:

1. Écailles De Lune (part I)
2. Écailles De Lune (part II)
3. Percées De Lumière
4. Abysses
5. Solar Song
6. Sur L'Océan Couleur De Fer

http://www.alcest-music.com/alcest_ecaillesdelune_cover.jpg

it was odd, how one of the lightest and arguably twee-est shoegaze albums of the 00's was made by a metal dude

amirite

would like very much to hear this

unless I'm listening to the fake, this isn't anywhere near as light or twee as the last one.

I guess the clips on the Amazon page are from the real thing ... sounds good to me.

ha, yeah that's the one I have. those clips don't demonstrate any of the black metal style vocals that are present on this one.

Glenn preferred the fake

to me it sounds like standard mid-tempo black metal-ish metal with Robin Guthrie doing intros to each song.

I'll have to mine slsk for this

the fake is part 128 part 320. the proper leak is all 320

huh, the legit one I got was all 128. didn't get it from s1sk though.

I like "Percées de Lumière" a lot, but yeah, the variety and intensity of the other five non-Alcest songs on the fake seemed much more intriguing to me as a set than the actual album. The imaginary band that could follow those different impulses and think of them, internally, as consistent, has something strange and cool to offer the world.

The real Alcest is more consistent, but far less strange or startling. Not bad, but not exciting.

I don't like everything on either of the two comps that the other tracks came from, by any means, but I'm enjoying both more than Alcest.

what comps did they come from?

Depression and Hatred of 3 Years and The World Comes to an End in the End of a Journey, both by the Chinese black-metal label Pest Productions...

So I enjoy this but I think Le Secret is still my favourite thing these guys have done. I tend to feel a little disappointed by their reliance on power chords and straightforward mid-tempo 4/4 or 12/8 chugging because I think the sonic template they set out for themselves offers a much wider range of possibilities. That said, it's a great template and they're probably still one of the current rock bands I enjoy the most.

New album soon!

http://social.entertainment.msn.com/music/blogs/headbang-blogpost.aspx?post=e9a4fedc-c6a9-44ff-b590-0511f40f8963

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/374174_285316731500934_170674326298509_965831_657173203_n.jpg

pretty.

teaser clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grzlV7Iqz-k

lol people complaining about the kids haircut!! if u all where real Alcest fans then u would know that in the fairy land that Neige writes about that's how the hair naturally grows...........
Eolivasphotos 3 days ago

WTF - he's now touring China!?

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=267813916591108

New album is streaming legally at YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7BF53AFB2555C55E

new album is gorgeous. been playing it a lot lately. anyone else like it?

Saw Alcest last week in Philly. Phenomenal show, really intense and beautiful.

Yeah, this album is very nice.

Yep, the album's holding up very well.

Listening to "Les Voyages" for the first time in a long time tonight and my goodness it is amazing.

Does anyone know if there is a release date for the upcoming album "Shelter" yet?

January. Listening to a promo now and the rumors are true -- FULL on shoegaze/Cocteaus from 1995. Not a hint of metal to be heard so far.

Nice!

Seriously you could tell me "Yeah this was some lost tape from this band that knew Bethany Curve and SoulWhirlingSomewhere" and I'd be all "Oh okay, got it" and I wouldn't be phased. It's very much that kind of total lost-in-float ease.

Oh and the title track is SUCH a 1992 era Cure rip. Beautifully done.

this album ("Shelter") is awesome.

Interviewing Neige in half an hour so if you have any burning questions...

And I guess you didn't! Or didn't read this. Anyway, great interview, some interesting insights on the new album, and I get a sense he's a very focused but content artist.

this is the best slowdive album since souvlaki

better than pygmalion, spoon & rafter or a strangely isolated place? gosh

yes my good man, even better than ulrich schnauss's cover of "crazy for you"

Its a fine album. Not metal in the least and the album Neige has probably always wanted to make.

I doubt I won't adore it.

i wasn't too crazy about the last one, i felt like it really dragged in places but this record is just so well put together. i'm a big fan of the centrepiece(s) of the record, "Voix Sereines" & "L'Eveil Des Muses" which have the most gorgeous melodies.

reggie is right and to me that is a compliment. I'm going to listen to this one a lot this year.

Now streaming on PF

http://pitchfork.com/advance/312-shelter/

after the understandable-ish thinkpieces that come out around this album (like the Stereogum one) can we all agree that as of like Feb. 1 we will just never use "metal" to describe Alcest again? i don't care that they're not metal, but i mean this album puts the nail in that coffin rather forcefully.

I look forward to avoiding all those hand wringing think pieces

I decided a long time ago that anything made by people who like metal and listened to by a majority of at least a sizable minority of people who like metal would be metal. That definition has served me well to date so I see no reason to abandon it now.

what about the backlash from people who always hated them? they are allover facebook taking great glee that they "arent metal"

One wonders why they go to the alcest page to say it

I'm enjoying this new album, but I don't quite get all the Slowdive comparisons.

"alcest are not metal theyre hipster indie" comments everywhere. anything indie or indeed non metal is "hipster" to those types btw

Is it because they're the goto reference point for anything dreamy and shoegazey?

people got bored saying MBV/Ride

I'm enjoying this new album, but I don't quite get all the Slowdive comparisons.

It helps that Neil Halstead actually sings on it...

the metal vs. not metal argument is going to turn out at least as interesting as the punk vs. not punk argument.

yeah i'm not saying it's this exhilarating argument or anything, but given the success of Deafheaven last year (and esp. last month) you can see why ppl who need to create content would write something.

then haters gotta reply and we have to suffer both!

it doesn't matter whether it's metal or not it just matters if it sucks. people not wanting to address that it sucks will write THE PURISTS ARE ANGRY! pieces because it distracts people from how this music is fuckin boring

it is boring, but in a very elegant way

it is boring, but in a very elegant way

yes. late-bourgeois metal

so does it work as ambient?
I am delighted that this band stopped having those lame Dragonlance via Vertigo comix style sleeves.

on further inspection, i'll revise that assessment to nth tier MTG card art

god the metal community has been dealing with a lot of brutal existential dilemmas, eh? Are true schizms in the metalverse even possible in the www age (diffusion of styles/lister preferences)? Metal fan community to diffusive in terms of taste? Sorry, this probably sounds hella patronizing..

people have been writing a lot of reviews/thinkpieces about that exact q, actually, that seems to be the primary function of these crossover releases - to generate "what does this mean for metal?" ruminations

it is somewhat interesting, I can't lie, that 80s/90s nostalgia as a driving force has resulted in this moment where what metal bands are nostalgic about is old Curve records instead of old Bathory records...but really nowhere near as interesting as people wanting to squabble about "purists!!" seem to think. there are way, way fewer people making purist objections than there are people basing their assessments on what the purists are purported to be thinking imo

feel like Ulver might be relevant to this discussion

probably a thread in itself as a lot of people dont like alcest so wont read this

xp

probably a thread in itself as a lot of people dont like alcest so wont read this

for my evil faux-purist purposes it's better if these discussions are relegated to threads no-one reads

Listened to this album this morning on the train. It's great. Here's the thing: I like it so much, I have no interest in exploring the band's back catalog. This album is perfect as it is; I am very happy to let it live as a shimmering, singular object without ever bothering to learn "how they got there."

what i got out of my listen yesterday was that the guitars sounded really good, there were some noticeable nods to post-rock and emo that i was into, but the package as a whole is just a little bit....lame? idk, there's a chance i come around and it becomes a record i really like. the stakes just seem a little too low atm.

re: thinkpieces and influences and all that, i'm just going to assume those are only interesting questions (as they specifically pertain to this record) to ppl who never heard the amesoeurs ep. because this sounds a lot more like that than it does any of the old alcest records.

the last song on this is gorgeous

The interesting part of the metal/not-metal question for me is whether it's possible to hear this album (assuming previous engagement with Alcest) without thinking of metal or having its metal provenance colour your experience. Can you listen to it just like you would a Curve album, where metal isn't even relevant, or is the 'not-metal' lacuna always there also? It'd be different if it constituted a complete break with an older style, but it's obviously continuous with what Alcest have done already. We aren't in some new world, it's still Neige's fairy land where black metal is part of the geography, even if this time around it's unexpressed.

diamonddave otm

The amesoeurs album was wonderful

yeah i was a big fan

I know what aerosmith is getting at earlier with a genre comparison and why people keep saying it since but the Curve mentions keep throwing me, I admit -- Curve to my mind, more so in the earlier days, are overlapping layers of guitars that just sound contemptuously angry, industrial/EBM leaning rhythms, and pissed-off/feminist lyrics coolly delivered. Shelter's way more on the agog Slowdive/Sigur Ros tip.

Ned I gotta be honest I don't really differentiate between all the NME one-word band name guitar bands of the early 90s, they're all pretty much one band to me

xpost I'm not really getting the Curve comparisons either

I'm getting a bit of a metal vibe from the new Alcest, in that it's awash in 6+ minute epics with multiple crescendos, as opposed to the noisy pop side of shoegaze. IOW, it's closer to Ride's "Dreams Burn Down" than anything resembling Slowdive.

yeah I'm getting a slight GY!BE/ASMZ vibe from this

I suppose that's the thing; it might not sound very metal but as it's a metal band making the album the approach is still gonna be that of a metal band.

love love love the Ruines Humaines EP by Amesoeurs. there is something irresistible about its looseness. it's as if the band could just one-hundred percent wig out at any second and it wouldn't matter because it would be the natural culmination of all those loose nerves anyway. the full-length was a bit manicured in its unhinged-ness by comparison. still excellent though.

Ned I gotta be honest I don't really differentiate between all the NME one-word band name guitar bands of the early 90s, they're all pretty much one band to me

first impressions of new album: pretty, but they've somehow diluted the traits of their signature sound and devolved into something that's like the happy medium of a whole bunch of other bands.

First listen and this is very pleasant. Nice, but like a lot of folks I feel something is lacking. And "Away" should never have been on here. Perfectly fine tune, but it sounds like a different project.

holy shit, this album

this is a fall-off?????? omg

YEAH Dan how dare you like it.

(My interview with Neige should be running next week.)

I'm always amazed by the "not metal" accusations and reviews (especially folk and ambient spinoff bands), but I have seen fans of other genres negatively review something for not being in the genre they expected it to be.

Why are 70s and 80s metal bands allowed to have some blatantly non metal tracks? Does anyone scream "NOT METAL!" when they hear Black Sabbath's "Fluff" or Judas Priest's "Epitaph" or any number of other lighter tracks by classic metal bands?

Then there is things like Peccatum where only a low percentage of Lost In Reverie is metal. Love that album.

i know people who hate vol iv because of changes (seen someone say it on ilm too)

did these guys always sound like The Sundays or is that a recent development

It's ironic that Sigur Ros decided last year that all this precious, pretty, shimmering candy floss was an artistical dead end, and abruptly went for something a lot meatier - exactly at the moment that the metal dudes of Alcest and Les Discrets are diving headlong into it.

I'm always amazed by the "not metal" accusations

Actually this reminds me of Hammock

an artistical dead end

naw you had it right the first time

look, I hate Sigur Ros just as much as the next right-thinking man but this blatant "I hate it when guitars sound like a wall of pretty" nonsense will not stand

Siegbran says "Don't particularly want to dress up as this strawman, but you know...it was not that crazy to have preferred Michael Jordan playing in the NBA instead of dicking around in Minor League baseball."

I'm still not sure what you mean. Surely people should pursue whatever direction they feel themless compelled to go in, especially if they are going to stagnate in what they were previously doing.

I dont know if the naysayer concensus on Alcest is whether their old metal stuff was better or that going into something associated with indie is the real transgression.

Didnt that Carcass frontman do a country album? Anyone heard it?

Didnt that Carcass frontman do a country album? Anyone heard it?

yes

not exactly a classic in its field

hahaha

I cannot speak for the naysayers but Alcest was excellent in what they did, and yes they stagnated a bit lately. This record is a logical change at this point, it's a record they needed to make. And I like it! Even though it's not as good as most of the other stuff mentioned on this thread (Ride, Slowdive, Sigur Ros, Hammock, etc). However, I'm not really interested in any more Alcest records like this. I'd rather have them explore the (pretty big) area between metal and postrock than become just another bunch of dudes with a volume pedal, delay and a reverb box.

Siegbran says "Alcest was excellent in what they did"

Do you mean the pre-Souvenirs stuff? I was under the impression they had several pure black metal albums but I just checked and saw that Souvenirs is their first album. I thought it was a backlash against a previously established metal band like Ulver.

Le Secret ep was their only black metal release.

...if you don't count _Tristesse Hivernale_

Neige did/does plenty of "pure BM" in other bands/projects. But no I didn't mean the pre-Souvenirs BM stuff, it isn't terrible but that wasn't what I think makes Alcest a great band.

Anyway I guess my point is that while they're of course perfectly allowed to make that beautiful post-rock album they always wanted to make (and hire Sigur Ros' producer to record it), I feel it's a bit of a shame for a unique band like Alcest.

Did anyone see them on the current tour btw?

giving this a listen for the first time...lol it sounds like Biffy Clyro

I'm quite happy for these guys to leave behind any and all black metal elements, I just wish this new one had a bit more bite to it. It's sort of easy to ignore in a way that the previous material wasn't, at least to me. It does have some truly glorious moments on it though. And it sounds nothing like Biffy Clyro!

Sounded a hell of a lot better on headphones on a nice walk up to Nunhead Reservoir earlier tbf.

Saw them last night, great show. I like the new stuff, although I'd like it to be a temporary direction rather than the way the band is now. New stuff sounded more 'muscular' live, & having the old tracks scattered throughout helped overall. If you liked them before the current tour isn't going to be the one that makes you climb offboard.

I saw them in August at an outdoor festival where they were the least 'heavy' act by far (of some 60-odd bands), but

I guess they're a lot more suited to small clubs.

I love the new album. There is a simplicity and straightforwardness to it that really works, like they are just asking you to stop thinking for a while and enjoy the music. The vocal and instrumental melodies are well constructed and the overall effect is beautiful.

These sounds were always lurking in the background - almost like Daft Punk finally getting to make a straight up funk record. I'm glad Alcest did this album but agree it would be a shame if they turned into just another shoegaze band and pumped out a few more of these.

hah the daft punk comparison is a v. good one

like they are just asking you to stop thinking for a while and enjoy the music

spoke w/ neige last month and he confirmed this very thing. he wanted to make a simple and "fun" (as in, fun to make) record.

Building off that a bit, I guess -- my interview with him has finally run:

http://thequietus.com/articles/14446-alcest-interview

...question for me is whether it's possible to hear this album (assuming previous engagement with Alcest) without thinking of metal or having its metal provenance colour your experience. Can you listen to it just like you would a Curve album, where metal isn't even relevant, or is the 'not-metal' lacuna always there also?

― jmm, Tuesday, January 14, 2014 7:37 AM (3 weeks ago)

reaching back a ways, but i'm not sure i understand the question. in order to assume prev engagement w the cest, we've gotta assume familiarity with their more recognizably black metal aspects & moments, right? we can't make ourselves unknow for strategic purposes, so i figure that, at the very least, "they used to be a metal band" hangs at the fringes of our awareness.

liking this more than i thought i might. s'pretty.

great piece, Ned. I personally have no use for dude's new direction but it was a pleasure reading about how he's thinking of it.

Thanks very kindly! I just try to stick my rule of delving deep into what interests and motivates someone now rather than looking back, unless we had specifically been talking about a reissue or something. It was an extremely easy, relaxed interview.

and yeah, aero otm. enjoyed reading that interview, ned. currently listening to "l'eveil" and imagining it w a 90s gothclub percussion mix. not such a stretch!

It's striking that so many artists in shoegazeland eventually go exploring more rhythmic music - MBV and Sigur Ros are the obvious ones here of course.

Well, and a few of them were doing that from the get-go, depending on how you want to define them. Chapterhouse a little haphazardly but Seefeel were always making that core to their approach.

Lush, too, plus however you want to classify Curve

I'm gonna listen to this album and I've never listened to Alcest before. sorry 2 my metal fans.

Oh yeah, duh on Curve. DEFINITELY doing that. And of course MBV were already sampling Public Enemy anyway back in 1988 so it was always a strain.

I'm gonna listen to this album and I've never listened to Alcest before. sorry 2 my metal fans.

it's ok bro they weren't really that hot to begin with so nbd

i know it's lame asking about the meaning of band names, but alcest = sleeping with al??

Alcestis

i was going to say that that was a disappointing answer until i learnt she was daughter of pelias, king of lolcus

what's alcest up to

Album out this coming Friday

I pre-ordered the box vinyl. £40!!!! there was a complete box with the box vinyl and the fancy book cd but that was over £60 and wasnt paying that

Release date: 30.09.2016

Available editions:
- CD digipak with die-cut sleeve
- LP (33rpm) on heavy-weight 180g black virgin vinyl
- 2CD hardcover book (36 pages with lyrics, elaborate liner notes by Neige, Winterhalter and Fortifem, translations of the lyrics, ca. 18x18cm) incl. bonus CD with bonus track "Notre Sang Et Nos Penseées"
- Deluxe 3LP box (45rpm) with vinyl etching, 6 art prints and lyric sheet; ltd. to 777 copies, split to: 200x black vinyl, 200x clear vinyl, 200x clear/black marble vinyl, 177x magenta/black marble vinyl (exclusive to the Prophecy online shop!)
- "Complete Kodama Box": 4LPs (45rpm) incl. two vinyl etchings and bonus track "Notre Sang Et Nos Penseées", 2CD hardcover book (36 pages with lyrics, elaborate liner notes by Neige, Winterhalter and Fortifem, translations of the lyrics, ca. 18x18cm) incl. bonus CD with bonus track "Notre Sang Et Nos Penseées", 6 art prints and certificate; ltd. to 777 copies, split to: 200x black vinyl, 200x clear vinyl, 200x clear/black marble vinyl, 177x magenta/black marble vinyl (exclusive to the Prophecy online shop! SOLD OUT)

I'm expecting there to be a couple of black metal ragers and a couple that sound like Clannad.

I just hope one of the BM Ragers isnt the bonus track as that's only with the book or complete box not vinyl box.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to this. I like all Alcest though, even the last one.

Are you interested in this? I love both their albums but dunno what to make of this new direction

Drawing inspiration from acts like Portishead, Massive Attack, Lana Del Rey, Pink Floyd or Blonde Redhead, Fursy Teyssier keeps his musical core with a calmer version of Les Discrets, maintaining the inherent melancholy and melodics.

"Virée Nocturne" will be released in two different formats: CD Digipak and 12" vinyl EP.

"Kodama" the fifth album from Blackgaze pioneers, Alcest, marks the French duo's ferocious return to the stylistic maximalism of its early albums while continuing the band's relentless pursuit for new sounds and fresh ideas.
"Kodama" is the Japanese word for 'tree spirit' and 'echo' and from the album's structure and dynamics to its cinematic sound, "Kodama" indeed 'echoes' Alcest's 2010 classic, "Écailles De Lune". But this is no simple back-to-the-roots album: the band has more punch, rhythm and organic feel than ever before. While clearly influenced by bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, Tool, Dinosaur Jr, Grimes and The Cure, "Kodama" ultimately reveals itself as Alcest's 'Japanese album', drawing substantial inspiration from Japanese art and culture.

Originally triggered by Hayao Miyazaki's anime film "Princess Mononoke", "Kodama" picks up on the fate of its protagonist and, at its core, deals with the sensation of not belonging; of living in between worlds, be it city and nature or the physical and spiritual one. Duality is also crucial for the visual approach of the album, realized by French graphic designer duo Førtifem. Paying tribute to Japanese illustrators like Takato Yamamoto, the visuals portray contrasting elements like nature/urbanity, youth/death, femininity/animality and combine poetic elements with darker ones that were not present in Alcest's earlier works.

By giving the album a cultural, stylistic and compositional narrative, Neige and Winterhalter keep "Kodama" from just being the latest improvement on the Alcest sound and instead make the album a most rare and exciting thing: a vital, relevant record from a pioneer that not only upholds the band's trailblazing legacy but actually makes you want to see where they go next.

I don't remember being hugely impressed by Les Discrets when I gave them a try god knows how long ago, might give the new one a listen if I manage to cut down my 2016 backlog a bit.

I haven't listened to any of the preview tracks from Kodama, I'd rather hear the whole thing fresh. That press release might be making it sound more interesting/adventurous than it actually is but I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy it anyway.

I think this might be the time to start liking Alcest again

Haven't received mine yet, has anyone heard it?

I think this might be the time to start liking Alcest again

― imago,

WORD UP

http://www.tigerstrypes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/download-2.jpg

Really good and a great change of pace. It rocks a lot harder than the last one.

New one is exactly what I was expecting but I was hoping for, idk, a little more. I mean I like it fine but when I hear a band treading water this much I can't help but find it slightly offputting.

The three tracks from this that are available on Spotify are really, really good.

Yeah, another fine album from them.

Alcest is somehow becoming one of my favorite bands without me noticing

New Alcest track, "L'envol". Full album out in June.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haQ_zgn9ck4

https://alcest.bandcamp.com/album/lenvol

Listening to an advance of the full album and it's a damn treat.

almost feel like it's cheating to put your metal in my shoegaze and vice versa but this rules

can only assume that there are other people doing this sort of thing; tell me about them pls