Some time ago when I first endeavored starting my very own band, I planned out an entire conceptual record based around a timeline of me being with people I love in a place that I loved. That place was the ocean. Not too long after I remember reading an article about an upcoming Alcest record. Neige had mentioned that the CD was strongly influenced by the ocean. The opening song I had written for this CD I entitled "Pier" was actually about a time my friends and I walked out onto the ocean pier very late at night and stared out into the eerie black nothingness.
I remember time stopping, and it seemed that everyone around me suddenly weren't in the same dimension of thought I was in. All sound paused besides the sound of the waves crashing into the old wooded pillars holding us up above the cold black water. I stared out into the void for 10 minutes thinking about how mysterious and scary the ocean can be, yet at the same time, is such a place of joy for people, especially when you can actually see where you are.
I thought about how powerful the ocean was, and how it could take your life away so quickly. I thought about what lives beneath the depths of it; the fact that there nearly is another world down there, and still undiscovered areas with who knows what living in the trenches.
I thought about how shitty human beings are, and how we still manage to ruin this planet even though most of it is made up of ocean, and I wondered what the world would be like if there were even less plates of land for us to live and shit on and just more salty mass. I thought of the idea of being trapped in the middle of the ocean at night and suddenly I got so goddamn startled by that thought that I snapped out of it and back into reality. My friends were all still around me, laughing, gazing out, taking pictures, and smiling, and I stood there with my heart beating viciously. It was if I had some kind of connection with the water, and with its' power. The moon was out that night and I realized how much it can alter the ocean, and our bodies. And that was out I suddenly got the idea for the CD.
I'm not too bummed out it never happened. There are already enough ocean inspired albums, one of my favorite being Isis' Oceanic, which at times literally gives the listener the imagery of being crushed by the ocean's weight and floating helplessly through it, without air.
On Écailles de lune, Neige gives the listener imagery of the ocean but in a different light. The gorgeous classic post-punk guitar tones literally sound like they could resonate throughout the ocean's body, deep in some mysterious trench below unknown areas. His somber vocals give you a sense of nostalgia yet solace and relaxation, and the second part of the two part title track brings me back to that moment I was out on the pier late at night. So curious and dumbfounded at what really lies beyond our sight, just feet beyond the damp wood.
To say I have a connection with the atmosphere of this record is an understatement. But simply, the first three tracks of this CD are FLAWLESS and composed with astonishing brilliance. Although the latter half of the album is rather short, it's still fantastic, with the shoegazey, Slowdive-esque "Solar Song", and melancholic and powerful closer "Sur l'ocean couleur de fer".
I'm struggling to find much else to say besides the fact that Neige is becoming one of the more inspiring musicians to me personally, and is also becoming one of my favorite vocalists in general.
I love this CD and I imagine you would too if you listened to it. It's truly something special.
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