Released March 29th, we will have copies around the middle of April. We are focusing on getting copies of the Boxset edition and Vinyl. The boxset includes the digipack cd version, postcards and a wallflag featuring the cover artwork. The vinyl edition comes in two colours: Black and Blue (Deep Sea). The boxset is limited to 1000 copies.

TOTALLY UNIQUE TAKE ON BLACK METAL INSPIRED FOLK! SERENE SOUNDCAPES AND MELLOW VOCALS WRAPPED IN DEEPLY MELANCHOLIC SOUND.

Memories live within us all. We dream of our loved ones, of our experiences, and we even dream of dreams and other worlds. When Neige, the mastermind behind ALCEST, is dreaming his dream, the end result is so much more than fitful sleep. He lets us partake of his “Souvenirs d’un autre monde”, of the innocence of childhood, a personal Elysium – and this Elysium is radiant, emerald green, luscious, and all the fresher the deeper you immerse yourself in it. “Écailles de Lune” is different, though, as ALCEST are moulding ambivalences on this album. “This story isn’t really a metaphor of death, as it would seem to be. For me, it is about a man who decides to leave one world for another one, literally. Like a passage to another reality, another state of existence,” Neige says about the album concept. “This time I was especially inspired by the seaside, the energy and the exaltation you can feel when you sit in front of the sea at night. It appears terribly fascinating, full of secrets and scary at the same time.” Stylistically, Neige reverts to the sound of Black Metal that once shaped him: a picture of heart-rending, otherworldly screams, collages filled with passion and sadness, and the characteristic clean vocals. These mellow and ageless voices manage to weave a shroud of sorrow around the album. “Écailles de Lune” is like a dream, a manifesto of transience and human inferiority. For all the changes, Neige has kept all of his trademarks: calm passages, massive slabs of guitars, catchy melodies, and hook-lines going straight to the heart – all this once more delivers a convincing articulation of ALCEST’s unique style. Close your eyes and dream along. This time, melancholy shall propel and unite us. We immerse ourselves once more in fairyland. This time, it doesn’t seem fresh but fallow. Its pallor and its shadows are unfathomable, and it reveals itself to us through our senses. It is always there when we quest for it.

1. Écailles De Lune (Part I) 9:52
2. Écailles De Lune (Part II) 9:48
3. Percées De Lumière 6:38
4. Abysses 1:47
5. Solar Song 5:24
6. Sur L’Océan Couleur De Fer 8:18

Released March 29th, we will have copies around the middle of April. We are focusing on getting copies of the Art Book edition (see below) and Vinyl. The artbook version presents the album in a 56 page hardcover book with illustrations by Fursy, band photos, a foreword and lyrics (including english translations) and the short film Tir Nan Og on DVD. The artbook is limited to 1000 copies.

Debut album from Les Discrets a shoegaze, post-rock, experimental, acoustic project. the sole musical creation of Fursy Teyssier who also played in Amesoeurs and has created artwork for other bands including, Alcest, Amesoeurs, Arctic Plateau, Agalloch, and Neun Welten.

In the last few years, the French art scene had quite a few surprises in store. In the wake of exceptional bands such as Alcest and Amesoeurs, a new project proceeds to do away with France’s position as exotic outsider. Originating from the same set as the above-mentioned artists, Les Discrets – the solo project of enterprising musician, filmmaker, and painter Fursy Teyssier – continues their tradition. With his debut album “Septembre et ses dernières pensées,” he has created a captivating achievement far beyond a purely musical framework – a fusion of music, film, and painting that results in an oft-attempted, but seldom achieved total work of art. Conceptually dedicated to the trinity of nature, love, and death, even the title of the album (“The Final Thoughts of September”) merges with the predominant undertones. In tracks filled with thoughts of sadness and devotion such as the painfully beautiful “Chanson d’automne,” the French vocals sound restrained and nearly sacral, and the guitars in “Effet de nuit” paint a misty picture of the nightside of nature. Les Discrets weave folkloristic motifs and dabs of post rock into their music in an equally fragile way, but in the end, they are only bound to themselves and to the artistic expression of this profound album. “Septembre et ses dernières pensées” marks a brilliant start for this young project, a piece of art full of evocative power and ruminant depth that breaks fresh ground by combining music with other forms of art. Apart from a regular Digipak CD edition, “Septembre et ses dernières pensées” will also be released as a 56-page art book edition containing numerous illustrations and background information as well as Fursy Teyssier’s award-winning short film “Tir Nan Og”

1. L’envol des corbeaux 1:26
2. L’échappée 4:03
3. Les feuilles de l’olivier 4:36
4. Song for mountains 5:58
5. Sur les quais 3:03
6. Effet de nuit 5:54
7. Septembre et ses dernières pensées 2:28
8. Chanson d’automne 7:39
9. Svipdagr & Freyja 3:58
10. Une matinée d’hiver 4:06

As was mentioned in our early interview with the band, Les ruches malades – an early song played at their first gig – has made it onto the album (slightly updated from the split ep). You can read the full January 2007 interview with Amesoeurs here. The last question addresses how Neige and Audrey saw the album a few years before its recording.

The self-titled debut album, officially released today, will be also be the last. A final testament to this collection of talented individuals who will, through their other projects: Alcest, Les Discrets, Peste Noire etc., continue to produce exceptional music. Amesoeurs, as with many modern achievements, will fade out gracefully; leaving behind some fine moments.

And so, after all the bands they have influenced – who inspires Amesoeurs? Neige has given us several songs that have inspired him in his work with Amesoeurs.

On to the playlist…

When Amesoeurs was born I didn’t know a lot about rock music, so I stress that these songs are not my all time favourite ones (even though I love them of course) but precisely songs that significantly influenced Amesoeurs.

1. Joy Division – “New Dawn Fades”
   I like everything in this song; it’s quite perfect in my opinion. I feel close to its lyrics and see it like a description of hope when you recommence everything and begin to breathe the air of your coming new existence. You feel hopeful, discovering new places, new sensations, new people but that can’t prevent you from feeling a kind of melancholy and heavy heart even so. I know very well this sensation since I moved my living place a lot these last 5 years, so you can imagine that this song accompanied me hundreds of times.
   Otherwise I love the strong and beautiful bass line and the vocal progression. I think Ian Curtis made one of his most breathtaking interpretations here. At the beginning whispering quietly in a fragile way, and finishing almost screaming with so much overwhelming emotion in his voice. Pure art.
2. For Against – “Sabres” *
3. B-Movie – “Nowhere Girl” *
4. Depeche Mode – “Stripped”
   We made a cover of this song at our only Amesoeurs concert, it was cool. I like the atmosphere a lot (very romantic and urban) and the melodic strength of this song. Especially the last chorus when Martin Gore and Dave Gahan sing together, so great! The most emotional Depeche Mode song for me.
5. The Chameleons : “Second Skin” *
6. Visage – “Fade to Grey” *
7. New Order – “Bizarre Love Triangle”
   Too few people are able to see the qualities of New Order. Ok, they made a lot of ridiculously bad and cheesy shit, but excellent songs too that would make even the meanest metalhead shake his ass eheh! Check the album Low Life, their best one in my opinion. This song is from another album, Brotherhood, and really it’s a new wave classic, as much disco sounding as interesting on a melodic point of view.
8. The Organ – “Brother” *
9. Virgin Prunes – “Pagan Lovesong” *
10. Joy Division – “The Eternal”
    Maybe one of the first JD songs I listened to. Play it driving at night in a suburb like place, with distant lights, greyish buildings, deserted football playgrounds, etc… Useless to put words on it. The sound of solitude, desolation, frozen urban beauty. I see it blue and abyssal. More than in a strict musical way, it nourished the complete Amesoeurs aesthetic and concept.
11. Talk Talk – “Today” *
12. A Flock of Seagulls – “Space Age Love Song” *
13. Skeletal Family – “Promised Land”
    This song is something we could have composed. It is so similar to what I wanted to express with Amesoeurs for our 80′s passages. The combination of powerful post-punk drums and fucking catchy/melancholic riffing. All Amesoeurs listeners must give this song a try; for sure they will adore it. If I had to choose a song that best defines my vision of post-punk it would be this one.

* Avoiding the classics that I guess you already know, I will take advantage and recommend a few great new wave songs I discovered later.

Direct link to this Podcast.

As was mentioned in our early interview with the band, Les ruches malades – an early song played at their first gig – has made it onto the album (slightly updated from the split ep). You can read the full January 2007 interview with Amesoeurs here. The last question addresses how Neige and Audrey saw the album a few years before its recording.

The self-titled debut album, officially released Friday, will be also be the last. A final testament to this collection of talented individuals who will, through their other projects: Alcest, Les Discrets, Peste Noire etc., continue to produce exceptional music. Amesoeurs, as with many modern achievements, will fade out gracefully; leaving behind some fine moments.

And so, after all the bands they have influenced – who inspires Amesoeurs? Fursy has given us seven songs that inspired him, specifically in his work with Amesoeurs and this album.

On to the playlist…

1. Amesoeurs – Gas in Veins (album: Amesoeurs)
2. M83 – Teen Angst (album: Before the Dawn Heals Us)
   This band is one of those bands that inspired everybody in the Amesoeurs’ trio that we were at the very beginning. It is music for and about people of these two latest decades. This guy seems to be fascinated by the new cities, the night lights and its colors etc. His music is really breathtaking once you have accepted its old-fashioned influences and kitsch moments and so understood that they are part of his music. The title of this song is perfectly chosen in my opinion. This song is for me a fall from the top of a high building. A sad atmosphere with a little bit of hope.
3. Blonde Redhead – Distilled (album: In an Expression of the Inexpressible)
   I’m not able to say precisely how many times I listened to this song… It could be almost 200 or 300 times!! This song is such a dark song, very repetitive. The drum pattern is excellent instead of being really simple, the dissonant guitar lines burst my ears, and I love the grice vocals. This song contains a lot of nervosity that is contained and never blown up, it is really tight. As a perfect ending, the bass line, which is without any doubt the best bass line I have heard.
4. Kill The Thrill – Permanent Imbalance (album: Tellurique)
   Kill The Thrill is a French band from Marseille. Their sound has nothing to do with the French scene. At the very beginning, I didn’t like as much what they were playing, but becoming older, my tastes evolving, this band is now one of my favourites. I LOVE the voice of the guy, and this industrial and modern approach. I just noticed that what I like very much in Kill The Thrill is that even without any visual, you can figure out what they’re talking about and which universe they paint in music. It’s a music which conveys a lot of atmospheres and pictures, very visual…
5. Massive Attack – Angel (album: Mezzanine)
   I am not used to listening to Massive Attack. I think I haven’t listened to it for years. But I am sure that it inspired me in the composition of Gas In Veins. This slow tempo with a big bass line… I noticed it right after having recorded the demo version. But I don’t really like this band actually.
6. The Evpatoria Report – Dipole Experiment (album: Golevka)
   I was a big postrock listener, but I’m tired of that style. This song is one of the postrock songs I still listen to, because it is really “filmic” and floating. It opens my mind to different pictures and scenery and I love when a music offers this possibility for people to imagine what they want while listening to it. It’s really important because in my opinion, every listener must put himself into the music either way. Due to it being a bit epic, you can imagine yourself in space surrounded by stars, in a grave, in a church, in a white or black atmosphere etc… Each time i listen to it, I have new pictures. That’s wonderful.
7. Amesoeurs – Amesoeurs (album: Amesoeurs)
8. Blonde Redhead – Publisher (album: 23)
   I discovered this song a few months ago, we already recorded the Amesoeurs’ album and so it didn’t inspire me for composing. I am a big big big fan of Blonde Redhead, album after album they are evolving. This band is becoming better year after year. The mood of this song is very special. The lyrics are beautiful and the music is, as always, very well composed and arranged. Blonde Redhead are talented to find good vocal lines and arrangements. I love the hiphop chorus with the ride cymbal very tight. Anyway this drummer has the most original patterns I’ve ever heard.
9. Cranes – Adrift (album: EP Collection)
   One of the tracks (bands) that inspired me for everything I do. Sooooo dark….. The singer seems to be a little child very very very sad, this song is a nightmare. This band is not well known and would deserve to be more. Even people who were 20/25 years old in the 80′s don’t know them… The big distorted part with a huge sound is excellent…. A wall of nightmare that falls on your happiness.

Direct link to this Podcast.

Update:
Amesoeurs will release the forthcoming album through Code666. Visit their official website.
You can hear samples of the forthcoming Alcest album here.
Fursy (guitarist in Amesoeurs) has a project called Les Discrets, you can learn more here.

Amesoeurs are a reflection of our modern urban world. The endless grey shit stained concrete walked by the comatose masses, littered with needles, whores and bums. The useless working man trying to mask his tears with alcohol and television. Money and disease the duet that rule our world, infect our veins and corrupt our soul.
“Ruines Humaines” is the debut release from AMESOEURS, the reflective project of French master Neige (ALCEST, PESTE NOIRE) and Audrey Sylvain.
Neige was a central reason why the Mortifera album is such an amazing release and the skill he brought to that album is very present here. The music is a mixture of the melancholic ‘black’ metal found in Mortifera and Alcest mixed with strong inspiration from British bands Joy Division and The Cure.
Sad but contemplative, not offering any solutions or judgments, just a frustrated mirror held up to the sprawling city wasteland – but somehow, unintentionally, making it sound quite appealing…

Todestrieb extends our appreciation to Neige and Audrey for the chance to discover more about this exceptional band.

Interview with Neige & Audrey S.
Thanks to Noël Benoit for the translation.
3 January 2007

Did the idea of Amesoeurs (musically / thematically) form before the band itself in 2004? Was it something that has been in your minds for a while, or did something specifically spark it that year?
AUDREY
As for me, the idea of this concept was already in my mind before I met Neige. I wasn’t a musician at the beginning but a dancer. I was evolving around this concept with rock/coldwave/new wave choreographies I used to dance on, which were close to the style performed by Amesoeurs. Amesoeurs helps me complete my feelings through music.
NEIGE
By the same token, Amesoeurs was a concept in the beginning before it became a music. It was an idea born inside me during my childhood. I lived for many years in the countryside and I have never got used to the city. When I was going there, it felt like another planet, both because of the setting and the attitude of the people living in the city. It fascinates me as much as it disgusts me. I’m particularly attracted by the city at night, its atmosphere, its unpredictability, the cold lights from these huge futuristic buildings. For most people, this is totally insignificant but to my eyes, it conveys something romantic in the first sense of the term: an unbelievable setting suitable for delusions, stories and fantasies. The key element that made me transform all this into music was the discovery of new wave and post punk, the perfect soundtrack for this kind of universe.
However, Amesoeurs is not confined into its own concept, we don’t want to become predictable. Thus, I hope we will have a few texts that will deal with other themes compared to those we are used to talk about.

What happened during your first gig, was it a success?
AUDREY
I won’t say our first gig was successful. I only had a month of bass practice and I made a few mistakes here and there ahah. Moreover, we were both sick!
NEIGE
Indeed, this gig was quite mediocre, even if it stays a good moment. We played in front of 30 people and our setlist was really short, that’s why we haven’t enjoyed it properly. It took place in Laudun, a village near Avignon. There were two rock bands after us, nothing groundbreaking.

Do you have other members for playing live?
NEIGE
We are looking for a bassist to complete the line-up but we haven’t received any positive answers for the time being.

Do you have any songs from that time (Summer 2004-April 2005) that have not been recorded (or released)?
AUDREY
Yes, we have a few songs from that time. Some of them have been discarded, we have to work more on the others, but they haven’t been recorded yet.
NEIGE
For the forthcoming album, we will record “Les ruches malades”. This is a song we played during our first gig. We will also record other songs written in 2004 and 2005, which are still uncomplete but we’ll work on them quite soon.

Do you think the sound changed after Fursy left, was he a big aspect of the band?
NEIGE
Fursy is a good friend of mine, we grew up and discovered music together. He knows very well what is Amesoeurs and what it represents, that’s why I regret his departure from the band. Had he lived closer and not been that busy with studies, he would certainly be our live bass player. However, he takes care of the visuals of the band with Isabelle Hanssen, which is by no means insignificant insofar as image is very important to us.

Audrey, have you been involved with any other bands previously or currently? What is special about Amesoeurs that it made you want to start recording?
AUDREY
Amesoeurs is my first band. When I’ve met Neige, I have discovered a sensitivity close to mine, that’s why we’ve decided to work together and that is the reason why I want to keep working and recording with him. I sometimes sing a little for Alcest (on the forthcoming album) and for Valfunde, the solo project of Famine from Peste Noire.

Your photos seem to show you as ghosts among the urban landscape. Somehow in it, but not part of it. Do you feel this way? Do you feel outside the world while being wrapped up in it?
AUDREY
I won’t be playing with Amesoeurs if I didn’t feel outside of this world, but I can’t criticize today’s society in two or three lines. I am aware of the fact that this society enables me to create music and to have enough spare time to satisfy my hobbies. To spit and shit on society when you are well-off is a teenager reflex. However, I’ve always felt ill-at-ease in the city because of this urban landscape that brings to me some existential questions I don’t have any answers to, like the sense of my life or about life in general.
To my eyes, the fact that we tend to make everything esthetic with our music helps us to see things more confidently. I won’t be saying this and I would have a different sensitivity if I wasn’t living in a urban area. In a few years, I will go away from the city and I will move in the North of France. I really prefer the North than the South of France with its landscapes and mentalities etc…

Do you ever think about making a video for the music? How do you imagine an Amesoeurs film would look if you had the freedom to make one?
AUDREY
I would include of lot of dancing, be it pictures or little videos. I would take advantage of the fact that Amesoeurs feels “dancing” to me. We could think about urban landscapes, characters and so on.
We could include pictures of the city at night that we would take from a good distance to display the bluish lights… or lost places, squats, bars, clubs and other filthy and fascinating places. A few portraits too. To put things in a nutshell, I would try to blend beauty and purity with sadness, dirt and violence.
NEIGE
The idea of an Amesoeurs video attracts me a lot. We would take the opportunity to present our visual universe that go hand in hand with our music in an indirect way to materialize and give life to this universe.

The front cover photo by Isabelle Hanssen is of the London underground, have you ever visited here to experience the human rats being herded through the corridors, crowding into trains…?
NEIGE
Not in London, no, but the subway in Paris or Lyon is really a strange experience to me. To each his life, his goal, a place to go and nobody cares about each other. Then, the noise, the never-ending motion, the heat, the stench… It feels horrible to me, it’s a real agression to our senses. To my eyes, the subway is a relevant metaphor of the dehumanization, the anxiety, the stress and the sadness that stem from modern life. There’s a lot of people in the subway packed in a relative intimacy. You are forced to be close to them, to listen to what they say, to feel their smell though we have no connection with them , they go out and you never see them again.

From the outside it seems you play the largest part in the band – vocals, guitar, bass – do you think that’s true? Do you take control over the song writing and lyrics?
NEIGE
I write 90% of the music. However, Audrey sometimes shows up with a riff, like for “Faiblesse des sens” for instance. This song originates from a riff that Audrey wrote, to which I’ve added others to create a whole song. As for the drums, I usually have them in my head but if Winterhalter comes up with a more efficient drum pattern than mine, I don’t mind using his for the song.
The writing process in Amesoeurs is different from my other projects. I sometimes find a bass line first and then complete it with the guitar. The guitar doesn’t necessarily come first. About the texts, Audrey will write most of them on the forthcoming album, I will maybe write just one or two.

Neige, your guitar has a unique and recognizable quality. Which guitarists influenced you as you’ve created this sound?
NEIGE
No band or guitarist have influenced me on a melodic point of view, be it in Alcest or Amesoeurs. With Amesoeurs, it’s more about the way we stage the instruments and rhythms that I’ve been influenced. Joy Division for example, the sound, the atmosphere and the drum patterns that this band uses have left a mark on me.

Where was Ruines Humaines recorded? Are you happy with how everything sounds? How long did it take to complete? Do you think the Summer season had any impact on the sound/emotion?
NEIGE
I’ve recorded this MCD at home, with a 24-track digital recording device. I’m not by any means a sound engineer but the production of this MCD is quite satisfying to me, I’m quite pleased with what I’ve achieved  for once!
As usual, I’ve used a lot of time to complete the recording process, 5 or 6 months I guess. Summertime? I rather like it, this season means holidays and spare time to record some material without the anxiety of the studies.

Out of all the projects you’ve been involved with, is this most personal to you? Alcest is your solo work, but Amesoeurs seems more Human, or is that misunderstanding and Alcest is actually a much more personal/deeper work?
NEIGE
Both are profound but I think Alcest is my most personal project, I can’t clearly explain it, it’s really hard to talk about it. The concept of Amesoeurs is more comprehensible and human, it concerns all of us.

What are the current plans with Alcest – still to re-record the EP and work on a new LP?
NEIGE
The Alcest album is almost done. It will be released in 2007 and will be entitled “Souvenirs d’un autre monde”, in English it means “Memories of another world”. This title is to be understood literally and it sums up the whole Alcest concept.

Can you find any redeeming qualities in the Modern world?
NEIGE
The easy access to arts and culture, the comfort of life in the good sense (not the new useless technology toys).

Where are some of your favourite places to be (in the world or just in your city)?
AUDREY
The Frigolet abbey, Bagnols les Bains, the Lozere forests, Brittany…
NEIGE
Quiet at home, or lots of other locations such as Brittany, the Perigord and Auvergne regions in France or Norway, a marvellous country I’ve had the chance to visit.

Do you feel nostalgia for a certain time in history? Do you feel humanity was of a higher quality in previous decades / generations?
NEIGE
I’ve always sucked about historical facts and I don’t feel attracted by another time than mine. Hum… maybe the 19th century. As for mankind’s evolution, I think you’ve always been able to find both great and lousy men, more or less kindly ones. The only difference is that our society, on a technologic level , offers means of destruction that are more efficient than in past times. For example: at war, now you can endanger the whole planet and its inhabitants and not only a handful of men, which is rather frightening.

You say the future album will develop your sound towards something more powerful, electronic, depressive. Will it sound very different to the MCD? Will you be using more/different instruments or changing vocal style?
NEIGE
Yes, the album will be quite different compared to the MCD, but still cold and desperate. Anyway, both black metal tracks of the MCD should have been used for Mortifera. The “real” Amesoeurs has always been rock but since these two songs were on a conceptual and emotional level quite close to Amesoeurs, I’ve decided to use them for the project.
The instruments will stay the same: guitars, bass, drums but we’re going to add a few rhythmic and electronic elements, probably from a drum machine or a sampler that we will mix with real drums. We want to give a genuine new wave touch to the album and create songs that are at the same time sad, violent and dancing.
AUDREY
Amesoeurs will be the soundtrack of deranged and smoky dancefloors.