It’s been 6 years since Alcest last graced Australian shores; during their long absence they embarked on an daring journey of musical exploration, releasing 3 critically acclaimed albums: ‘Les Voyages de l’Âme; ‘Shelter’ in which they charted a completely new musical direction and last year’s ‘Kodema’ which saw them return to their heavier sonic vocabulary. On tour the trail was blazed in the company of bands such as Deafheaven, Anathema & Opeth making a name for them in all corners of the world.
Having completed this expedition Alcest is now one of the most exciting French outfits to be recognized globally and have also inspired other bands with their musical experimentation. Fans of shoegaze, post-punk, black metal, progressive and indie rock are all admiring the artistic credibility of Alcest and it’s no surprise why they are in such demand to tour in so many countries.
On the 27th of April Alcest headlined a show at the Manning Bar, deep in the core of the University of Sydney. Supporting them were two other Aussie explorers The Veil from Sydney and Germ from Wollongong. Both bands were a spot on choice to open up for Alcest, The Veil we read venturously heavy with catchy choruses, clean vocals and confident melodies. Germ on the other hand featured screeching vocals combined with the band’s overall eccentric aesthetics from the new wave and post punk movements of the 80’s.
Alcest’s eventual entry on stage had a dark and dramatic atmospheric feel to begin with as the curtains opened to an ominous stage as the band opened the show with “Onyx” a shadowy atmospheric composition from the ‘Kodema’ album followed by the titled track. The audience was just entranced by the music they were hearing,the band’s live performance was never indulgent and there wasn’t any unnecessary amplification or feedback from any of the musicians. Each song they played was a joy to listen to; the setlist had a good balance of old and new or heavy and refined songs. Front man Neige or Snow in English, (Stéphane Paut according to his French passport) greeted the natives and told the crowd they had just visited the famous Bondi Beach and how beautiful it was;occasionally he also uttered strange but tuneful sounding words like “Mercy”that soothed his rowdy Australian fans.
At times the show was like being in a trance like meditation with the music elevating the audience or making everyone involuntarily clap their hands to the rhythmic percussion’s of their compositions. On the less transcendent side it should also be noted that the sound mixing was top notch and made the show run very smoothly whilst boosting the quality of Alcest’s performance. During the encore Neige promised everyone that it would not take 6 years for them to come back to Australia which is good news for fans of these Blackgaze pioneers.
BTW: Blackgaze is described by The Guardian as “the buzz term for a new school of bands taking metal out of the shadows and melding its blast beats, dungeon wailing and razorwire guitars with more reflective melodies”.
In conclusion I left this show having a new appreciation for Alcest’s music; a friend of mine in the audience told me it was hard to describe how he felt about it afterwards. I would describe it as spiritual, meditative and an incredibly moving performance. Its shows like these that will live in the memory for a long time.