bartosso
French shoegaze is so... french
Les Discrets is a band that creates music full of grey landscapes, sounds emerging from a milky fog, shoegazing passages reminding me of fairy-tale drawings rather than fairy-tales themselves. Released by Prophecy Productions (Alcest, Antimatter), SEPTEMBRE ET SES DERNIÈRES PENSÉES is a dreamy, emotional, very bleak and most of all, quite successful album.
The sound suits the music perfectly. Production is clean yet quite organic and subdued. Guitars sound heavy when it's needed but Les Discrets stick to their post-rock and shoegazing side most of the time. To enhance dreamy atmosphere, vocal lines are treated with reverb. I must say that vocal style of Fursy Teyssier is definitely an acquired taste though. He's drawing from both shoegaze and post-punk styles and while I'm not completely convinced of his singing skills, reverb makes his performance more tolerable.
After a few hours with the music I began to realize how diverse influences one can find in the album. At first listen, SEPTEMBRE ET SES DERNIÈRES PENSÉES seems to be an ordinary french post-rock/shoegaze album in the vain of Alcest or Amesoeurs. Obviously, there are similarities among them since all these acts share at least one band member, but Les Discrets seem to be the most interesting of all of them. Stylistically, the band draws from post-rock ambiance and shoegaze arrangements but such genres as post-punk, black or doom metal are noticeable in the music as well. Not to mention very well crafted acoustic parts, deeply rooted in dark folk tradition.
Alcest's fans may love this album. I think it's one of the best efforts that french post/shoegaze scene has to offer. Even if you're not a fan of the style, there's enough of enchanting passages and emotion-provoking melodies, to get interested any fan of atmospheric rock.
TRACKS BY RATINGS: 8/10[great]: L'échappée; Song for Mountains; Svipdagr & Freyja || 7/10[very good]: Les Feuilles de l'olivier; Sur les Quais; Effet de Nuit; Chanson d'automne; Une Matinée d'Hiver || 5/10[not bad]: Septembre et Ses Dernières Pensées ||