Sommige muziek lijkt niet van deze wereld te zijn, alsof je op de vleugels van een onaardse entiteit over adembenemende landschappen vliegt. Het Franse Alcest is een band die dit gevoel kan bewerkstelligen. Eind maart kwam hun tweede album ‘Ecailles De Lune’ uit. Vlak daarna vertrok men op tournee, eerst door Europa met The Vision Bleak, daarna naar de Verenigde Staten. Vandaar dat we besloten dit interview een beetje later te doen, zo konden we eveneens alle nieuwe tourindrukken in dit verslag verwerken. Een beklijvend onderhoud met bezieler Neige is het resultaat.
Well, let’s start with something recent. Alcest suddenly evolved from a studio project into a live band. Who is taking part in the live band besides you Neige? Beside me the band is composed by Winterhalter on drums (Les Discrets, ex Amesoeurs, ex Peste Noire), Fursy Teyssier on bass (Les Discrets, ex Amesoeurs) and ZERO on second guitar and backing vocals (ZERO).
Early April you had a European tour, the first one ever, so I am pretty exciting to hear about your experiences? Did the audience receive your beautiful music in a positive way? Are there special memories at some gigs or places? Oh, it was a really great experience for us, very exciting. The audience was enthusiastic about seeing Alcest for the first time, we received always very positive feedbacks about the shows, despite our lack of experience in performing live. As for special memories, I have to mention the audience in Lonato Del Garda (Italy) that was really crazy about Alcest. We were like “wow”, we didn't expect such a passionate reaction! Italy seems to be a very good country for us. London was also excellent, and otherwise we loved the shows in Essen and Vienna.
But I think it was a positive thing to go on tour with The Vision Bleak, friendly people you already knew since you recorded music in their studio, isn’t it? Making this tour with The Vision Bleak was a pleasure to us, the two bands fitted really well together, we had a lot of fun and good moments with them! They are all fantastic guys, and yes as you say I already knew Markus before since I am used to record in his studios, he is a person I deeply respect and appreciate. The tour went very fast, I hope we will be able to make another one with them one day.
I think the first gig ever of Alcest took place in Bucharest (please tell me if I’m wrong). That must have been a special adventure. Can you tell a bit about this event? A special adventure indeed, first I have to underline the exceptional hospitality of all the concert crew. The concert conditions and all that was around were simply perfect. They even took us to make tourism, visiting an old monastery, the Bran Castle, Brasov… As for the concert itself, for a first shot it could have been worst! My only regret after having seen the videos is the vocals mixing which was too loud and totally lacking of reverb, but this is a detail I guess.
And now I see that you are in the middle (or have just finished) the first trek to the United States. Completely different experience I think (and I don’t know anybody of the bands playing with you). Of course also about the American adventure we like to have your impressions… The organisation of this American tour was very tricky. We started to plan it one year ago and like for every bands going to play in the U.S the main problem was to obtain visas. When we finally had them (on the last moment!), feeling liberated and finally sure that we would go on tour, we learned that an Icelandic volcano's smoke cloud was perturbing flights and that there will be only a very small chance that we go. This is simple, we were not sure that we would go in the U.S until we finally were in the plane! Then as for the tour itself, despite the fact that we were driving the car, going to the venues/hotels by our own ways (making several times 800km between two cities...), everything turned out very good once more. Promoters were serious, and except for two dates there was a good crowd to the shows. I can say we are pretty lucky concerning shows and tours. The only bad thing about this tour is that I have lost my voice on the two last dates (NYC and Montreal) so ZERO had to sing all my vocal parts. I feel very frustrated about it because people on these two last dates were very enthusiastic and happy to see us, I can't wait to be back in North American for playing again and doing the real Alcest show they were supposed to see.
Well, so far for the live reports. You once started Alcest as a solo project. Was it your intention to form a real band from the beginning and can you tell how it developed from a one man project to a group effort? Alcest is not a real band now, the other members that are with me on stage are just live members (except for Winterhalter that recorded drums on the new album).
The style has also evolved from black metal to acoustic music and now a bit more roughness again. But I guess you do not think in terms or styles but just use music to colour your words and dreams, isn’t it? Exactly! The genre really doesn't matter to me, I am just looking for a way of expression that suits the emotions and the images I want to transmit to the listeners, without having any stylistic barriers, without thinking in terms of “metal”, “rock” or whatever.
When listening to your music, I get the feeling that you are a very dreamy, even nearly otherworldly person. Especially the first album ‘Souvenirs D’une Autre Monde’ suggested that… what can we imagine by your dream world? Okay this is a long story. In 2000 Alcest started as a traditional black metal band but quickly turned into a much more personal project. Since 2005 ‘Le Secret’, Alcest is a way to musically translate an esoteric experience I had during my childhood until early teenage years. Let's be clear, we are not speaking about imagination or fantasy, but about a real event which had and will always have a big impact on my life. As a child I was used to have sudden visions, memories of a place that is not the one we know. The things that came to my mind, with the precision and the evidence of any “real” memory, had nothing to do with anyone can know or imagine there. These were images about an indescribably beautiful haven where everything - trees, glades, streams - produces a pearly light and where a faraway and celestial music floats in the air like a perfume. In such a place the spirit wanders without its mortal coil and deprived of the five senses pertaining to the body. It perceives what surrounds it in a completely different way. There, one no longer feels moral and physical suffering, diseases, anguish of death but only a feeling of peace and indescribable ecstasy. This heavenly place is inhabited by beings of light who are infinitely benevolent, protective and who communicate by talking directly to the soul, in a “language” beyond words. Now the memories of my present life tend to replace ancient ones if I can say but they will always remain inside me. This experience can be comparable to what are describing people that had a Near Death Experience actually.
‘Ecailles De Lune’ is different (that’s fine, I don’t like bands always making the same album). Can you tell about the concept of this album? While ‘Souvenirs’ was a description of memories I had as a child about the luminous far away dimension I am speaking about in the previous questions, ‘Écailles De Lune’ could be seen as a metaphor of how I manage to live with this experience now in my everyday life. As I sometimes feel that nobody really understand and grab what I am speaking about, in some moments it's like if I was a stranger here, having the sensation a non-human part of my soul is screaming inside me to be back in the world he belongs to. This explains besides the ‘Écailles De Lune’ lyrical theme’s melancholy. It's a story about a man sitting front of the sea at night and thinking about his life, the fact he can't find any interest anymore in his earthly existence, nothing and nobody that could give him joy. He falls in love with the night, being captivated by the voices of the waves and the spirits of the sea. He goes swimming in the depth, all surrounded by aquatic guardian spirits for finally having a serene sleep in the bottoms of the sea and never coming back in the real world. This story is not really a metaphor of death, like it would seem to be. It's like a passage to another reality, another state of existence.
When did you decide that it needed a rougher approach, including blackish elements again? I didn't decide of it in a conscious way, conceptually ‘Écailles De Lune’ is darker than ‘Souvenirs’, more bitter so logically I had a different approach for the music, using in some moments screamed voices, aggressive parts and deeply melancholic riffs.
If I may speak for myself, I think you can hold the attention – surely in a live situation – better with switching from soft to harsh than only (semi)acoustic performances, or don’t you agree on that? I totally agree with that! I want Alcest music to be very contrasted, from smooth softy passages to explosive passages full of tearing emotions, in order to always keep the listening captivating. I love when the music goes again strongly after a calm passage. This alternation of clean/distorted passages is very characteristic of my music.
Which instruments did you play yourself on ‘Ecailles De Lune’ and who were the other musicians? I played all the instruments/vocals, except for drums that were played by Winterhalter.
Can we see the beauty (and sometimes cruelty) of nature as main inspiration to write music? To me the contact with nature is a way to recall sparkles of my far away world, like a key that enables me to keep contact with it. When I walk in the forest during springtime, when the gentle breeze caresses my face, when the sun rays gleam the leaves of the trees as if they were emeralds, I do feel my faraway realm again and the reasons that led me to create Alcest are obvious once again, so are my motives.
The artwork is of breath-taking beauty. Can you tell a bit more about it? This is an illustration that perfectly reflects the ‘Écailles De Lune’ lyrics: A man that decided to leave his world to sleep in the arms of the sea spirits. I had it in my head already, the scenery, characters, colours, but since I am not a painter I asked to my very talented friend Fursy Teyssier to do it. And I am so satisfied with it. In every interview I am having a question about the cover, people seem to love it.
You prefer to sing in your vernacular language, French, which is quite exceptional in the metal world. Why this decision? Simply because I don't see a reason to sing in English. French when it's well written can be a very beautiful language. If I want people to understand my lyrics, I just have to translate them in English (what I will do for the next album I think) but keep singing them in the French version because it's my mother tongue and singing French lyrics that I am proud of gives me ten times more emotions than if it was in English. It's much more touching, stronger, it goes directly to my heart.
There is a bond with bands like Amesoeurs, Les Discrets and Peste Noire. Can you go a bit deeper into these congenial bands for our readers? I don't think that there's is a bond between all these bands, the fact is just that they all came from the south of France and some shared the same members.
The album came out in different editions. Can you explain the contents of the different packages and why should people be best with the extra editions? As you know people are not buying CDs anymore due to the internet; what I really appreciate about Prophecy is that they want to make people being interested again by concrete music formats, thanks to their very nice packaging, vinyl editions etc. I personally hate to listen to MP3, I am pretty old school for this, I love vinyl, special packaging etc. Contrary to many bands that are making music and only music, I think all Prophecy bands have also a strong aestheticism and visual identity, so making luxury editions is the best way to value this aspect.
As your music is atmospheric and full of changes: did you never think about writing a soundtrack for a movie? I would love it, really. In the way I consider Alcest music I think this would fit really good for a movie. However I don't like when there's distorted guitars in soundtracks so I am even thinking about making acoustic versions of some Alcest song's passages one day. A kind of compilation with nameless tracks gathering some Alcest melodies played by strings, real choirs and stuff. I am waiting for the appropriated moment to do this, but something tells me that I will really do something like this one day.
What’s next into the near future for Alcest? (after the US tour) I want to focus on the next album composition, you know I am not the kind of guy that can do several things at the same time so I need to concentrate on this.
If there is any news I forgot to cover, please feel free to add it here… I thank you a lot for this interesting interview.
When listening to your music, I get the feeling that you are a very dreamy, even nearly otherworldly person. Especially the first album ‘Souvenirs D’une Autre Monde’ suggested that… what can we imagine by your dream world?
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