By Natalie Zina WalschotsLes Voyages De L'Âme, the third full-length, studio album from French dream-spinners Alcest, is a beautiful journey, but a strange one. It leads the listener through a surreal, romantic landscape. Alcest is difficult to pin down via genre conventions, attracting fans of ambient metal, black metal, and shoegaze, consistently demonstrating that their ineffable aesthetic has great crossover appear. Many have likened the experience of listening to Alcest's music to entering into a dream state, but the sound is too vigorous, too ebullient, too alive and awake for that description to fit. Looking for a guide to help navigate this album, as delicate as a crystal structure and an ravenous ocean, Exclaim! turned to the album's author: the otherworldly musician Neige.
Les Voyages De L'Âme differs from Alcest's previous work in terms of its energy and forward motion/momentum. Was this a deliberate shift in aesthetic? The new album is more uplifting in a way. The previous record (Écailles de Lune) was darker and melancholic. This new album is more about positive vibes; it is very dreamy and more dense. The first part of Écailles de Lune was very intense, while the second was filled with very atmospheric, with almost ambient songs. This new one is very much a journey, and something more ethereal. Alcest's music is characterized by a dreamy, almost hallucinatory quality, an exploration of the inner landscape. Yes, all of Alcest's albums are about the same subjects. The albums can be thought of as a film, a single film, each album being iterations of the same theme. Each album goes deeper, as well. Écailles de Lune was more personal and down to earth, more anchored. I was going through dark times in my life, and because I didn't feel very good I needed to express my own melancholy through the band. Now, coming back to Alcest with Les Voyages De L'Âme, I feel back on track.
POP & ROCK: Beach House - Bloom
Web Exclusive 
SHARE IT! 
