#5 - Shelter - 2014 Album Listening Club

[Guest]

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Shelter by Alcest

Alright, I know this is pretty mainstream and a lot of you have already heard it, but I've unfortunately been really busy and wasn't able to dig as deep for this as I was hoping. Either way, this is a very good album and anyone who hasn't heard it yet should, imo.

For those who have listened to Alcest's previous albums, you'll know that they have a pretty distinctive sound that is some sort of mix of shoegaze, black metal, and post-rock. On this album they, for the most part, abandon their black metal roots and focus more on the other two. Lots of grand, epic melodies with shimmery guitars, buttery drums, and dreamy vocals. As is typical of shoegaze, the riffs are generally pretty repetitive, but in a hypnotic way. My personal favorite tracks are "Opale" and "Delivrance", the latter of which has become one of my favorite songs of all time, but it's a very strong effort throughout. To you Slowdive fans, Neil Halstead provides vocals on the 7th track, "Away". If you enjoy this album, definitely check out their first album, Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde, which is even better.

You can listen to it on youtube, but I believe one of the tracks is missing from all of the full album videos, so I'd recommend Spotify. I believe it's on Grooveshark, as well, but I'm not positive.

[Puncture Repair]

I really enjoyed this, I've heard people accuse it of being too boring or predictable, but I found that to be quite comforting, I like it sometimes when there's no surprises.

Very easy listening that's also extremely uplifting, I really need to give this another listen.

[RockyRaccoon]

I loved it, it's in my top 10 of the year so far. Beautiful soundscapes, it's gorgeous.
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2023 Chart

Early Psychedelic Rock

Electronic Chart

[SuedeSwede]

Weirdly listened to this last night along with last week's album, The Unnatural World. Yeah, this sure is a good record. Highlights are as swedenman said "Opale" (which is a beautiful, uplifting typical shoegaze song) and Délivrance (which is the darkest of the whole album, but dark in a shimmering way - hard to explain, just listen to it). If you liked Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde but wished it was a little lighter, then endulge it this album. It's a hell of a lot poppier than Souvenirs, for better or worse, and the only song to actually continue the black metal sound is Délivrance really.

Anywho, my second favourite of 2014 behind The Unnatural World, Opale being my second favourite song of the year so far behind, weirdly, Defenestration Song.
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[Norman Bates]

[Guest]

[Wombi]

gay

[Guest]

[alelsupreme]

It's a nice listen, with some pretty beautiful moments. Despite that though, I find it's pretty... same-y. The sound never really varies, aside from Away. Only track that really stands out for me is Deliverance.
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Romanelli wrote:

We're all fucked, lads.

[Guest]

I think it sucks. Whereas early releases (if you'll pardon comparisons) try to evoke a sort of nostalgic fairy tale, this is just...well, just like the cover. A bright light. Dreaminess for the sake of dreaminess. Dreams are series of images strung together with no particular rhyme and reason. The images are what make it! Half-remembered images with an importance one can't quite explain. This album is like all the half-remembered without any of the images. It evokes nothing, it isn't even catchy or particularly beautiful, it is just a failed attempt at dream pop. (imo)