Line #76 Music/Alcest


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0003422170_10.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:L to R: Winterhalter, Neige]]
3
4	Alcest is a French [[BlackMetal Blackened]] {{Shoegaze}} band fronted by Neige which has served as TropeCodifier for that subgenre. They are one of the most famous black metal-related projects from France, alongside Music/DeathspellOmega, Music/BlutAusNord, and Peste Noire, the latter of which contains a significant degree of personnel overlap with Alcest (nearly every significant member of each band has played with the other at some point).
5
6	While Alcest's demo was fairly run-of-the-mill black metal, their 2005 EP ''Le Secret'' was where they [[GrowingTheBeard Grew the Beard]] and established the sound for which they would become famous, a mixture of the tremolo picking and HarshVocals of black metal and the sunny atmosphere and layered guitars of shoegaze.
7
8	Interestingly, Neige claims he had not listened to any shoegaze albums at the time he recorded this album or the following album, ''Souvenirs d'un autre monde'', which moved even further towards shoegaze. Alcest albums since then have mostly contained various mixes of black metal and shoegaze, with 2014's ''Shelter'' being almost entirely shoegaze or PostRock. While blackened shoegaze tends to be a controversial affair among black metal fans, Alcest have mostly averted this reaction thanks in part to their [[GenreRoulette diverse sound]].
9
10	Neige credits the inspiration for this band with experiences he had as a child of being in a "far off country" which he generally refers to as "Fairy Land". Alcest is his musical adaptation of his memories from this "otherworld".
11
12	!!Members
13	* Neige - lead vocals, guitar, keyboards
14	* Winterhalter - drums, percussion
15	* Zero (live only) - guitar, backing vocals
16	* Indria (live only) - bass
17
18	!!Discography
19	* ''Tristesse hivernale'' (2001, demo)
20	* ''Le Secret'' (2005, EP)
21	* ''Souvenirs d'un autre monde'' (2007)
22	* ''Alcest / Les Discrets'' (split album, 2009)
23	* ''Écailles de lune'' (2010)
24	* ''Le Secret'' (rerecorded, 2011, EP)
25	* ''Les Voyages de l'âme'' (2012)
26	* ''BBC Live Session'' (live, 2012)
27	* ''Shelter'' (2014)
28	* ''Kodama'' (2016)
29	* ''Spiritual Instinct'' (2019)
30	* ''Les chants de l'aurore'' (2024)
31	----
32	!!Tropes
33	* AlbumIntroTrack: "Wings" on ''Shelter.''
34	* {{Animesque}}: The cover art for ''Kodama'' to a slight degree, which is an homage to the artwork of Creator/TakatoYamamoto.
35	* AnotherDimension: Most of their music is based around Neige's memories of a mystical "Otherworld" he says he visited in his dreams as a child.
36	* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: A recurring theme in the band's lyrics. It's particularly literal in the lyrics of''Souvenirs d'un autre Monde'''s TitleTrack.
37	* AuthorAppeal: Neige really likes the ocean, having grown up near the coast, which is why much of ''Écailles de lune'' and ''Shelter'' have an aquatic theme. He's also a self-admitted Japanophile, which is why there's a great influence of Japanese music and artwork on ''Kodama''.
38	* BilingualBonus: Nearly all of their lyrics are in French.
39	** ''Kodama'' (can be written in Japanese as either 児玉 or こだま) is Japanese for ''both'' "tree spirit" ''and'' "echo".
40	* BittersweetEnding: Neige likes to leave off on a melancholy note for most Alcest albums.
41	** "Sur l'ocean couleur de fer" on ''Écailles de lune''.
42	** "Delivrance" on ''Shelter''.
43	** "Onyx" on ''Kodama''.
44	** The title track on ''Spiritual Instinct''.
45	* BlackMetal: On some releases. On others there are very few vestiges of it; on ''Souvenirs d'un autre monde'' the sole remnants are tremolo picking and the occasional blast beat. ''Shelter'' has no traces of black metal at all. The black metal influence is back on ''Kodama'', but only to a comparable extent to the amount seen on ''Écailles de lune'' and ''Les Voyages de l'âme''.
46	* ChildhoodFriendRomance: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85c-P9hbmBg video]] for "Autre Temps" depicts one.
47	* ConceptAlbum: ''Écailles de lune'' is a loose one relating to the sea, while ''Kodama'' appears to be a loose one inspired by ''Anime/PrincessMononoke''. ''Shelter'' kinda ''is'' this in a way, more in the basis of based on the listener's own shelter, or in Neige's case, his shelter being the ocean.
48	* CountryMouse: Neige, as he admits in interviews.
49	* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Kodama'', especially on the heels of ''Shelter''. Part of the impetus for recording it was a bit of CreatorBreakdown on Neige's part following the mass shooting at the Bataclan Theater in Paris in late 2015, as he felt like he couldn't write another purely happy album like ''Shelter'' in light of the current political climate.
50	* DroneOfDread: Subverted with "Onyx", which consists entirely of distorted, droning guitar, but carries more a feeling of sadness than dread.
51	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The band's first release ''Tristesse hivernale'' was full blown black metal and focused on sadness and winter. Then ''Le secret'' came out and the band dropped the full black metal sound for a mixture of Shoegaze and Black Metal (leading to the accidental creation of Blackgaze). Even then, the 2005 version of ''Le secret'' still had a darker sound to it, if not due to the production.
52	* EpicInstrumentalOpener: Both tracks on ''Le Secret''. This shows up on some other albums as well.
53	* EpicRocking: Many of their songs are very long. The longest is either "Le Secret", which is over fourteen and a half minutes long, or "Écailles de lune", which is nearly twenty minutes long, but divided into two parts.
54	* EtherealChoir: The intro to "Elévation" is roughly two minutes of this, leading into a joyous shoegaze riff.
55	** "Beings of Light" off of ''Les Voyages de l'âme''.
56	* FadingIntoTheNextSong: "Wings" runs into "Opale" and "Voix sereine" fades into "L'Éveil des muses" on ''Shelter'', while "Oiseaux de proie" fades into "Onyx" on ''Kodama''.
57	* GaiasVengeance: "Oiseaux de proie" appears to be about this.
58	--> "The birds of prey
59	--> A beast-children army
60	--> Preparing to avenge
61	--> Their mother's agony."
62	* GenreRoulette / GenreMashup: Black metal, shoegaze, post rock, and dream pop are just a few of the influences on their sound.
63	* GhibliHills: They're basically the metal equivalent of this. Helps that Neige is an avowed fan of the TropeNamer.
64	* GreenAesop: There's a very environmental theme to much of Alcest's music, especially on ''Kodama''. Neige has said in interviews that nature is a great source of inspiration for him and that he feels more relaxed in the woods than in the city.
65	* HarshVocals: On their earlier releases, Neige's vocals were split about half and half between harsh black metal shrieks and soaring melodic cleans. ''Souvenirs d'un autre monde'' and ''Shelter'', however, use exclusively clean vocals.
66	* HeavyMithril: Likely one of the only metal bands to ever write a ConceptAlbum based on a Creator/HayaoMiyazaki movie.
67	* LandOfFaerie: This is the primary concept behind the band. As a child, Neige claims he saw a "Fairy Land" or "Otherworld" that contained sights and sounds that don't exist here, and Alcest is Neige's way of adapting those memories into music. "Tir nan og", closing track on ''Souvenirs d'un autre monde'', is named after a similar location in Myth/CelticMythology (more accurately spelt "Tír na nÓg", which translates as "Land of the Young").
68	* LighterAndSofter: Compared to most BlackMetal. Amazingly, they're still pretty well liked by the black metal community.
69	* LoudnessWar: Alcest's music has mostly averted this. While some releases are clipped (specifically, ''Écailles de lune'', ''Les Voyages de l'âme'', ''Shelter'', and the re-recorded ''Le Secret''), they still have decent dynamic range overall. ''Kodama'' doesn't have any clipping at all (except on the bonus track) and the songs come out to [=DR8=], which is wonderful by modern metal standards. ''Shelter'' is the only Alcest album with questionable dynamic range; overall, it comes out to [=DR6=] (which is still better than the worst modern-day offenders), while all other Alcest albums come out to [=DR8=] or higher and have no songs ranking below [=DR7=]. (Worth noting as an aversion is the original ''Le Secret'', which is [=DR13=] and doesn't clip at all.)
70	* NatureLover: Neige.
71	* NatureMetal: The variant with a GreenAesop.
72	* NiceGuy: Neige. He's shown himself to be a pretty nice, calm, and relaxed person.
73	** Case in point: When Markus of Lantlôs asked Neige to leave the band so he could focus more on Alcest, Neige ''agreed with him and left with no trouble''. Fans have also commented how much of a sweet heart he is, if just very private and reserved.
74	* PostRock: The primary style of ''Shelter'', and a significant influence on Alcest's other albums.
75	* RearrangeTheSong / {{Recut}}: Dissatisfied with the reaction some people had to ''Le Secret'' (he was bothered that people felt the EP had "a sinister mood" or regarded it as a cold and melancholic release), Neige re-recorded both tracks of the EP with cleaner production.
76	* {{Shoegaze}}: Starting with ''Le Secret'', this has been the primary style of most of Alcest's music. Interestingly, Neige claims he hadn't listened to any shoegaze until after he recorded ''Souvenirs d'un autre monde''. Funny enough, Neige is a fan of Music/{{Slowdive}}, a band that is labeled as a big part of Shoegaze (although some could label them as DreamPop, hence Neige not knowing what shoegaze is).
77	* TheStoic: Winterhalter aka Jean Deflandre, which is saying a lot compared to Neige who is more outspoken and very casual with interviews. Jean spends most of his time just being private and drinking while playing live.
78	* ShoutOut: "Circe Poisoning the Sea" is one to the painting ''Art/CirceInvidiosa'' by Creator/JohnWilliamWaterhouse.
79	* SingingSimlish: Neige does this on the title track of ''Kodama'', apparently in tribute to Music/CocteauTwins. "Délivrance" provides another example.
80	* SopranoAndGravel: Neige's vocals can be either the harsh shrieks typical of black metal or clean singing. Sometimes guest vocalists show up too, such as Audrey Sylvain of {{Music/Amesoeurs}} and Peste Noire on one track of ''Souvenirs d'un autre monde''.
81	* TropeCodifier: For blackened shoegaze. It's pretty much been believed that ''Le secret'' was the first blackgaze release.
82	* UncommonTime: "Eclosion" contains a section in 7/4. "Notre Sang et nos pensées" is also mostly in 7/4.
83	* WeUsedToBeFriends: Neige and Famine of Peste Noire were at one point friends and even performed in one another's bands for awhile, but they clearly don't care for one another these days. It's unknown ''what'' happened that lead to the two to cease communication, but it's often believed that Neige's transition to a softer-style of black metal upset Famine[[note]][[Main/{{Irony}} Which is rather funny to look back on]] when you consider the [[Main/{{TrapMusic}} direction Peste Noire would eventually take]][[/note]]. An argument could be made that Famine fired Neige from PN due to Neige's constant zig-zagging during his time in the band (as Neige rarely performed in the band as full fledged member until ''Folkfuck folie'' and near the end of his time on ''Ballade cuntre lo anemi francor''). The general belief however was Famine taking offense to Neige's refusal to embrace Famine's often right-wing beliefs in Peste Noire, as Neige himself stated he didn't support racism/Nazism.
84	* TheWorldIsJustAwesome: ''Most'' of their stuff gives off this vibe, even when there are no vocals.

Context Music / Alcest