Alcest
| Alcest | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 Pierre "Zero" Corson with Alcest at the Rockharz Open Air , 2017. |
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| General information | |
| origin | Avignon , France |
| Genre (s) | Blackgaze , Post-Rock (since 2014) |
| founding | 2000 |
| Website | www.alcest-music.com |
| Founding members | |
| Stéphane “Neige” Paut | |
| Current occupation | |
Singing, guttural singing, guitar, bass (studio), keyboard (studio), drums (studio) |
Stéphane “Neige” Paut |
Drums |
Jean "Winterhalter" Deflandre (since 2010, live 2009) |
| former members | |
guitar |
Aegnor aka Famine (2000-2001) |
bass |
Argoth (2000-2001) |
| Live and session musicians | |
Vocals (studio) |
Audrey Silvain (2007) |
Guitar (live), backing vocals (live) |
Pierre "Zero" Corson (since 2010) |
Guitar (live), backing vocals (live) |
Zoé (2013) |
Bass (live, studio) |
Fursy Teyssier (2010) |
Bass (live) |
Indria Saray (since 2010) |
Alcest is a French band from Avignon founded in 2000 .
history
Alcest was founded in 2000 by Neige, who was 15 at the time, as a musical solo project. Neige was active as a drummer in the controversial French black metal band Peste Noire when it was founded . Shortly after the founding, two other musicians from Peste Noire joined him: Famine, who called himself “Aegnor” at Alcest, and Argoth.
In 2001 the musicians recorded the demo Tristesse Hivernale together , with Aegnor being responsible for the composition of the piece La Forêt de Cristal . Shortly after the demo was released, Aegnor and Argoth left the project, so Neige Alcest continued as a solo music project. Neige, who founded Alcest to play rough and cold-sounding Black Metal , turned with the EP Le Secret , released in 2005, from the musical direction to the sound known for Alcest today.
In March 2007, the music project was signed by the German record company Prophecy Productions ; In August, the debut album Souvenirs d'un autre monde (Fr .: 'Memories of another world') was released on the label. Also in August, the demo Tristesse Hivernale was reissued by Northern Silence Productions as a split release with the black metal band Angmar . In March 2009 a split EP with the French Blackgaze project Les Discrets was released . In March 2010, Écailles de Lune (French: 'Mondschuppen'), Alcest's second full studio album, was released. It was also Winterhalter , who played since 2009 as a session musician percussion with Alcest, taken as a full band member. Winterhalter himself has played drums in Les Discrets and Peste Noire in the past. In 2011, the debut EP Le Secret was reissued via Prophecy Productions. For this purpose, the two pieces on the EP were released as the original and with a new mastering.
In January 2012, the third volume Les Voyages de l'Âme (French: 'The journeys of the soul') followed. For the first time the musicians went on concert tours to promote the album. These tours led through several countries in Europe , as well as through Japan . Music videos were also made for the first time for the pieces Autre Temps and the eponymous Les Voyages de l'Âme . In the same year a live EP was also released under the title BBC Live Session .
Two years later the fourth studio album, Shelter , was released, which was recorded by Sigur Rós singer Jón Þór Birgisson in the band's own Sundlaugin in Iceland . A second European tour followed as Opeth's special guest . A year later, they went on a concert tour through North America for the first time , accompanied by singer Emma Ruth Rundle from Marriages and Red Sparowes . In autumn 2015, Alcest completed a concert tour with Lantlôs , which led through several German cities. A music video was also produced for the song Opale . Shelter became a commercial success and entered the German and Finnish album charts for the first time .
Immediately after the release of Shelter , Neige and Winterhalter started working on their fifth album. The writing work took almost three years, so the musicians recorded the album with Benoît Roux in the Drudenhaus Studio in Limoges between January and April 2016 . The album, which bears the name Kodama (jp .: 'Baumgeist' or 'Echo'), was released on September 30, 2016 and reached number 15 in Germany and 62 in Switzerland . About a month after Kodama was released , Alcest toured Europe with Japanese band Mono . This was followed by a North American concert tour with The Body and Creepers in the opening act. Between March and May of 2017, the musicians toured Southern and Eastern Europe , as well as Asia and Australia , before Alcest returned to Europe for the festival summer. The band performed at the Resurrection Fest , the Dour Festival , the Graspop Metal Meeting , the Hellfest and the Rockharz Open Air . At the end of 2017, another European tour followed together with Anathema .
In the summer of 2018 Alcest played for the first time at the Download Festival in Paris and at the invitation of The Cure front singer Robert Smith at his Meltdown Festival in London . Also in June Alcest played concerts in Latin America for the first time , before the first appearance in India at the Bangalore Open Air followed in July . In September and October, the group toured again through several Central European countries. On this tour, the Kodama album was played in full.
Alcest announced that the tour cycle for Kodama after their concert tour through North America would end in late 2018. The musicians also confirmed that they have been working on the follow-up album for a long time. In April 2019 it was announced that Alcest had signed a worldwide record deal with Nuclear Blast . The sixth studio album has also been confirmed for a later release in 2019. This was announced on June 26, 2019 under the title Spiritual Instinct for October 25 of the same year.
Music and lyrics
music
Alcest was founded to play “rough and cold” Black Metal . The music on the first demo Tristesse Hivernale , which was recorded together with the two musicians Aegnor and Argoth, can be assigned to the genre. After the two musicians left, Neige continued Alcest as a solo project, so that he was able to change the music in a personal direction.
Already on the EP Le Secret , released in 2005, Neige turned away from black metal itself, towards the sound that was decisive for the band. There are still tonal parallels to Black Metal, but the distorted guitars evoke memories of My Bloody Valentine and Jesu . The occasional use of acoustic guitars , arpeggios , picking , double bass and blast beats is characteristic of the band's sound. The drumming is reminiscent of amesoeurs , while Neige's vocals are characterized by dream pop and slowcore , so that they bring back memories of Chris Martin from Coldplay . The built-in slow song passages are reminiscent of Opeth . The Prophecy Productions label describes Alcest's music as a mixture of Burzum , Yann Tiersen and Slowdive . Musical comparisons can also be made to Cocteau Twins , Sophia and Mojave 3 .
Alcest largely retains this sound on the 2010 Écailles de Lune . The third album Les Voyages de l'Âme , released in 2012, is considered a musical fusion of the first two albums. The music is described as “slow, beautiful and wafer-fine metal ”, which is paired with “grandiose, distorted guitar playing and cathedral-like clear vocals, as long as Neige does not use his biting screaming song.” There are elements of Black Metal again, those with shoegazing -Melodies, ambient soundscapes and post-rock are combined. Musically, Neige on Les Voyages de l'Âme is inspired by Dead Can Dance and Summoning in addition to the aforementioned Yann Tiersen and Burzum .
Even if Alcest's music is rooted in Black Metal at the beginning of his career, singer Neige rejects comparisons with the genre of music:
“Alcest have been compared to black metal so many times, I have nothing to do with black metal. It is not correct to label me as black metal because I did a few screams. There is nothing in my music about hate or angriness. "
“Alcest has been compared to Black Metal so many times that I have nothing to do with Black Metal. It is not correct to label myself Black Metal just because I used a few screams . My music has nothing to do with hatred or anger . "
Shelter represents a musical departure from Blackgaze that Alcest helped shape. Instead, the music can clearly be assigned to shoegazing , which is celebrated by artists like Slowdive , God Is an Astronaut , This Will Destroy You , Mogwai and Sigur Rós . The musicians largely do without the elements of metal. On Kodama , released in2016, Alcest returns to their musical origins in Blackgaze, with the musicians being influenced and inspired by other artists and their work, including Grimes ' album Visions , Tool's last two albums- Lateralus and 10,000 Days - Dinosaur Jr. , The Smashing Pumpkins , Cocteau Twins , The Cure , Explosions in the Sky, and Sonic Youth . The album Spiritual Instinct , released in2019,builds on Neige's Black Metal roots and focuses more on the riffs that give the album a more metal-heavy sound.
Texts
With one exception, Alcest's lyrics are exclusively in French and follow different concepts: The songs on the EP Le Secret , released in 2005, describe impressions from the childhood and youth of the singer Neige , which he describes as "Fairy Land". The concept of the Otherworld is taken up again on the third long player Les Voyages de l'Âme and is based on a vision that was experienced in childhood. In addition, the concept represents an attempt to discover this esoteric experience. During this period Neige dealt excessively with star interpretation and with the stories of other people who also had an out-of-body experience with the Otherworld, which is a further inspiration for the musical concept of the The album. Some Alcest songs do not contain lyrics, for example the song Beings of Light . Instead, Neige sings in this piece in an onomatopoeic fantasy language. Neige showed herself, among others, from Sigur Rós , who incorporate her own fantasy language “Vonlenska” (“Land of Hope”) into their songs, and from Cocteau Twins singer Elizabeth Fraser , who gradually creates her own language from initially understandable words.
Shelter processes the concept of a place of retreat. In the case of the singer Neige, this represents the sea . In an interview with Rock Hard he said that every person has a fascination and fear in relation to the ocean. It is as huge as space and the lowest point on earth. Due to the fact that man arose in water in the mother's womb, there is a part in man that longs for water. On Écailles de Lune , Neige describes, among other things, the dark side of the sea; Shelter, on the other hand, is the summer side.
“I think we all have this fascination and fear about the ocean. It's like outer space, big, dark and we know it's the deepest part of our planet. We ourselves arose in the water, in our mother's belly. In a way, we always miss it. And when you sit at the edge of the sea or a lake, it clears your mind. On the "Écailles De Lune" album I was more inspired by the dark side of the sea, with this very romantic scenario, the moon and the silver reflections. With "Shelter" it's more the summer side. "
On Shelter there is a song called Away that was written in English because it hosts a guest musician contribution by Slowdive singer Neil Halstead .
Kodama is influenced by Japanese mythology and culture , with the anime film Princess Mononoke and the two concert tours through Japan as sources of inspiration.
criticism
Due to the activity of the musicians in the French black metal band Peste Noire , which can be found in the context of the right-wing extremist side of the music genre , Neige in particular often came under criticism for spreading right-wing extremist ideas and approving the sentiment. Above all, the demo Aryan Supremacy , released in 2001, and various statements by the band in question let the fronts between Neige and various music magazines condense. When Alcest was signed by the German label Prophecy Productions in 2007 , Neige made a statement in which he declared that he had never been an active part of Peste Noire and therefore not had a decisive role in the writing process of said demo, let alone her ideological attitude to share:
“I never was involved in any way with any political, racist or xenophobic ideologies. I was just a musician in Peste Noire, most of the time session musician, I never took part of the lyrics or philisophy of the band. At the "Aryan Supremacy" period I was 15 years old and I didn't think about the consequence of recording some music with that band, it always was just musical participation for me. Alcest has NOTHING to do with any hate-based philosophy like racism and as a person I am absolutely NOT into nazism, racism and such ideologies. "
“I was never involved in any political, racist or xenophobic ideologies in any way. With PESTE NOIRE I was just a musician, most of the time only a session musician, I never participated in the lyrics or the philosophy of the band. At the time of "Aryan Supremcy" I was 15 years old and I didn't think about the consequences of recording music with this band, it was always just a purely musical participation for me. ALCEST has NOTHING to do with any hate-based philosophy and as a person I have nothing to do with Nazism, racism and such ideologies. "
In an interview that Neige conducted with Laut.de in November 2016 , he said that Alcest is an apolitical band. However, he also referred to his previous involvement with Peste Noire. Neige said that he was surprised that the discussion had diminished, what he made of the fact that the listeners perceive Alcest as an apolitical band. He described the time at Peste Noire as part of his musical biography and that he didn't know if he would do it again if he could turn back time. He said that he no longer had any contact with the musicians at Peste Noire. Neige separates music and politics: He said that he doesn't like bands that want to convey politically oriented messages with their music, be it right-wing or left-wing. After the Paris attacks in November 2015, however, he noticed that some people who were not entirely clear about their political orientation may have turned to the right. Neige also takes the same opinion with regard to Burzum , which has a certain position in the right-wing extremist Black Metal scene ( NSBM ). He describes himself as a fan of Burzum's music, but he calls the musician behind the project a "wanker" and "totally insane".
In an interview with the German online magazine Metal.de in 2011, Neige replied to a question on the subject of national pride that some people in Germany have developed a certain sense of shame and rightly look back on the atrocities that the National Socialists wrought. However, he described the "Nazi or racist paranoia" as a mindless extreme. He described the band DRUDKH as apolitical, although the former label described the band's idea as radical-conservative-revolutionary.
Neige is a spiritual and nature-related person. In an interview with the British Metal Hammer he described that spirituality and religion have nothing in common, but are in opposition to each other. The main reason for this is that religion dictates what to believe in, even if this is completely irrational.
Awards and nominations
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Impala Sales Awards
- 2012: for the albums Écailles de Lune and Les Voyages de l'Âme (silver)
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Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards
- 2014: Best Underground Band (nominated)
Discography
Studio albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 FI
|
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| 2007 |
Souvenirs d'un autre monde Prophecy Productions |
- | - | - | - |
First published: August 8, 2007
|
| 2010 |
Écailles de Lune Prophecy Productions |
- | - | - | - |
First published: March 29, 2010
Impala Award ; Sales: 20,000+ |
| 2012 |
Les Voyages de l'Âme Prophecy Productions |
- | - | - | - |
First published: January 6, 2012
Impala Award; Sales: 20,000+ |
| 2014 |
Shelter Prophecy Productions |
DE28 (1 week) DE |
- | - |
FI17 (2 weeks) FI |
First published: January 17, 2014
|
| 2016 |
Kodama Prophecy Productions |
DE15 (1 week) DE |
- |
CH62 (1 week) CH |
- |
First published: September 30, 2016
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| 2019 |
Spiritual Instinct Nuclear Blast |
DE12 (2 weeks) DE |
AT63 (1 week) AT |
CH30 (1 week) CH |
FI34 (1 week) FI |
First published: October 25, 2019
|
Web links
- Official website
- Alcest at laut.de
- Alcest at Allmusic (English)
- Alcest at Discogs (English)
- Alcest at Musik-Sammler.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ben Ratliff : Spooky Cathedrals and Twilight Moods .
- ↑ a b c d True, Chris " Alcest Biography ", Allmusic , Macrovision Corporation. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
- ↑ Mystery Flame, Interview with Neige of Alcest, Avant-Garde Metal Webzine , January 17, 2011 .
- ↑ Blabbermouth.net : ALCEST Signs With PROPHECY PRODUCTIONS
- ↑ Bravewords.com : ALCEST Announce Tour Dates For Japan
- ↑ Brooklyn Vegan : "Alcest streaming Les Voyages De L'Âme in full, playing Public Assembly (with DJ BBG)"
- ↑ Michelle Geslani: Consequence of Sound : Lists: Alcest's ethereal new opus, “Délivrance”
- ↑ Bram Teitelman: Metal Insider : Here's 10 minutes of Alcest at their shoegaze-y best
- ↑ a b c Metal.de : Interview with Neige von Alcest
- ↑ Nicola Savic: Prog Sphere : OPETH and ALCEST Touring Europe This Fall
- ↑ Bram Teitelman: Metal Insider : Alcest heading to North America
- ↑ Alex Klug: Metal.de : Alcest & Lantlôs live in Germany
- ↑ Gregory Adams: Exclaim! : Alcest "Opals" (video)
- ↑ Mandy Malon: Rock Hard : Alcest release 'Opale' video from their upcoming 'Shelter' album
- ↑ a b Chart sources: DE - CH - FI
- ↑ Scott Munro: Metal Hammer : Alcest, Mono in co-headline Euro tour
- ↑ Andrew Sacher: Brooklyn Vegan : Alcest announce 2017 North American tour with The Body and Creepers
- ↑ Yugong Yishan : The Beijinger : Alcest "Kodama" 2017 China tour
- ^ The Obelisk : Alcest Announce Australia / New Zealand Tour Dates
- ↑ Metal.de presents: The Optimist - Europe Tour 2017
- ↑ Scott Munro: Metal Hammer : Anathema premiere new track Springfield
- ↑ Olly Thomas: BLACKGAZE: A MARRIAGE OF METAL EXTREMITY AND ATMOSPHERIC DREAMINESS. Kerrang! , April 14, 2018, accessed October 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Allaccess.com.ar : Alcest South American Tour 2018
- ↑ Rolling Stone India : Alcest, Overkill, Immolation and More Set For Bangalore Open Air 2018
- ↑ Dominik Boehmer: Itdjents.com : NEWS: Alcest Announce Full Kodama European Tour For September ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Bram Teitelman: Alcest Ends 'Kodama' Touring Cycle By Playing First US Prophecy Fest. Billboard , October 19, 2018, accessed October 20, 2018 .
- ↑ ALCEST signs with NUCLEAR BLAST. Blabbermouth.net , April 11, 2019, accessed April 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Alexandra Michels: ALCEST - Sixth studio album in progress. Rock Hard , April 10, 2019, accessed April 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Alexandra Michels: ALCEST - "Spiritual Instinct" album will be released in October. RockHard.de, June 25, 2019, accessed August 20, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c Alcest. "Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde". Metal.de , accessed on September 10, 2017 .
- ^ Lars Strutz: ALCEST - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde. Powermetal.de , accessed on September 10, 2017 .
- ↑ Artist information . ALCEST (France). prophecyproductions.de, archived from the original on November 14, 2008 ; accessed on September 10, 2017 .
- ↑ Ben Ratliff: New York Times : Alcest - Les Voyages de l'Âme criticism
- ↑ Thom Jurek: Allmusic : Alcest - Les Voyages de l'Âme criticism
- ↑ a b Rock Edition : Interview with Alcest
- ↑ Natalie Zina Walschots: Exclaim! : Alcest
- ↑ Alcest: Shelter .
- ↑ Album Review: ALCEST Shelter - Metal Injection ( en-US ) January 15, 2014.
- ↑ Shelter - Alcest | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic .
- ↑ Alcest | Biography & History | AllMusic .
- ↑ Alcest .
- ↑ Cheryl Prime: Scene Point Black : Interviews: Alcest
- ↑ Rodney Fuchs: Alcest Spiritual Instinct. Retrieved November 8, 2019 .
- ↑ Grayson Currin: Alcest: Le Secret EP , May 23, 2011, accessed September 10, 2017.
- ↑ Robert Müller: Metal Hammer : Alcest Interview: Introverted Globetrotters , excerpt from the interview published in issue 02/12
- ↑ a b Meredith Schmiedekamp: Rock Hard : The Charm of the Simple ( Memento of the original from September 10, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Valentin Erning: Alcest - The free sea frees the mind. Whiskey-soda.de , archived from the original on August 22, 2018 ; accessed on December 31, 2018 .
- ↑ Andreas Schulz: On the tooth: ALCEST. January 12, 2011, accessed April 11, 2017 .
- ↑ Manuel Berger: Laut.de : Alcest: "You shouldn't understand my texts at all"
- ↑ Jens: Metal.de : Alcest - Interview with Neige about "Écailles De Lune"
- ↑ Kim Kelly: Vice : Alcest Continue Chasing Perfection with a Stunning Japanese-Influenced New Album, 'Kodama'
- ↑ Tom O'Boyle: Metal Hammer : How terror attacks and spiritualism inspired the new Alcest album
- ↑ a b c d e Robert Müller: Impala Awards: The underground is alive. Metal Hammer, September 7, 2012, accessed October 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH FI
