Founded by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Neige, who got his start in the more traditional (and hateful) black metal band Peste Noire, Alcest were incorporating shoegaze sounds before they even knew what shoegaze really was. “I discovered shoegaze when I was recording my first full-length album [2007’s Souvenirs d’un autre monde], and by that time I had already found the ‘signature’ sound of Alcest,” writes Neige over email. “At the time, I had a solid black metal background but I wanted to bring something different to it than the usual sinister/misanthropic vibe. My approach was much more uplifting, nostalgic, spiritual, otherworldly… While recording Souvenirs, I discovered Slowdive and immediately fell in love with the band. So yeah, I definitely got why people sometimes labeled Alcest ‘shoegaze’ because the two sounds had a lot in common.”
While Souvenirs certainly befuddled some black metal fans in the late 2000s (two particularly choice Metallum reviews from 2007 are titled “Disney Music” and “Fraud”), it wasn’t until blackgaze found…
