Alcest

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