Alcest
Founded in 2000 by Neige (Stéphane Paut), Alcest started off as a solo black metal project, but ended up founding a while new musical subgenre, blackgaze, that features elements from black metal music and shoegaze, with a truly unique sound.
The music path of the group started with the Le Secret EP and Souvenirs D'Un Autre Monde, continued with Ecailles de Lune and Les Voyages De L'Ame, considered the foundation of the blackgaze sound (especially Le Secret). Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde, for example, surprised the fans with a total new form of expression for the metal scene, both original and controversial, generated by blending cold raw black metal and melancholic, melodic sounds with clear shoegaze elements.
In 2014, Shelter followed, a disc that marked a total change of sound, swerving from metal to a dream-pop aesthetic, something that generated strong reactions through the band's fanbase, but it also demonstrated its ability of exploring new areas and opened the way for other musicophiles to discover its music.
Kodama (2016) marks the return to the blackgaze roots, the sound that made them famous. The songs combine poetic elements with dark approaches, all featuring the French's duo effort of experimenting and finding surprising ways of expression. The complexity of this album can be guessed from its title. Kodama is a double meaning word in Japanese - meaning either "echo" - or " tree of life" and it was inspired by the anime Princess Monoke (1997), directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Just like the main character of the anime, the album dissects the idea of uprooting one self and the tragic constant alternating between two contrasting worlds (represented even by the opposition city - nature physical world - spiritual world).
It is said that Alcest songs are strongly influenced by the dream world and the arsenal of symbols and sensations that it is populated with. Many of these compositions are inspired by dreams Neige had as a child - about a magical land, a sort of Fairy Land, a place of synesthesia, full of colors, sounds and shapes not present on Earth. Even the band's name, Alcest, entails things outside this world. The name itself has no particular meaning, but Neige chose it because it sounds differently.
Neige (Stéphane Paut), the brain behind this musical project, is one of the most active musicians in the French underground culture, and over time he has brought his inspiration to bands like Peste Noire, Mortifera, Phest or Amesoeurs, to name just a few.
