Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde (2007) / Shoegaze Post-Rock from France

This time I present the first album of Alcest. One of my favorite bands forever, I liked it from the first time. The feeling, nature, harmony and melody of Alcest is unmatched. It is for me a cult band of Post-Rock / Shoegaze with some touches of Black Metal and Ambient. He has experimented in each of his steps. As in this first album, created entirely by Neige, a member of Alcest for the year 2007. He made all this album, the solo, the lyrics, instruments, voices and arrangements. It also has the invitation of the beautiful Audrey Sylvain in "Sur l'autre rive je t'attendrai.

We start! This beautiful album takes a completely turnaround for Alcest, who had tried years before with small jobs, very close to Black Metal, with the passage of time, Alcest became a single member, one was only able to make a big change in the sound, concept and ideas of the band. Neige showed on this album his feeling. Reviewing us fantastic ideas and worlds far from reality, he showed his most kind side, leaving aside Black Metal and influenced by the sounds of Shoegazing, genre forgotten from the 90's, but with an impressive harmony and feeling.

As mentioned, this album shows a complete change, leaving black metal to create a more pleasant and harmonious music, like the Shoegaze, with some post-rock tints and a great similarity to the music of My Bloody Valentine.

This album opens with the delicate "Printemps Émeraude", a beautiful song with a very shoegazing sound, acoustic guitars and many cyclic cuts. A good topic to start this journey to fantasy. Then we find the song titled as the same album "Souvenirs d'un autre monde", the best song of the album for me, a beautiful "ballad" from the shoegaze, with acoustic guitars that make you travel, some melodies and voices, they can hypnotize you, in a world of beauties and fantasies. It is impressive how the sounds of shoegaze relax, with a very distorted guitar in the distance, always in the background, it takes you on a nostalgic journey.

Follow "Les Iris", a theme with very similar characteristics and a somewhat more instrumental instrumental touch. Then "Ciel Errant" that begins with a beautiful tune, to then give way to the shoegaze touches that both characterize the album. A very nice melody, it's an incredible song. Voices that wander next to the instruments for beautiful landscapes.

This album in its final stage changes the touch a bit. Although keeping the same sound Shoegaze, much more marked, sounds like My Bloody Valentine Frances, in the next cut, entitled "Sur l'autre rive je t'attendrai" beautiful song, where the guest Audrey Sylvain appears, which delights us with his beautiful voice, as he has always done in Amesoeurs. Beautiful theme, it sounds very very Frances, I do not know how to say it, I like it. The choirs of Neige, give much more emotion. And finally we ended up with "Tir nan Og" a more personal Neige theme, where the lyrics clearly reflect us escape from this mundane life, to the fantasy perhaps, things of Neige.

This will undoubtedly be one of my favorite records forever. A great change made for 2007, this band. It's strange, because in the most recent albums, you keep the same characteristics but with some sounds and voices more typical of metal. And most of all black metal.

It can be said that Alcest is a revolutionary band, complementing 2 very different genres, although it should be noted that the album I am reviewing does not have characteristics of Black Metal at all, according to my criteria. In more recent works if it is denoted touches many more metalheads in the works of Alcest. I hope to tell you about them soon. Regards!