Review: Les Discrets - “Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées” (2010)
There has been a lot of buzz around the release of Les Discrets’s debut album, largely due to mainman Fursy Teyssier’s association with Amesoeurs and Alcest. Some of it is certainly deserved, as Les Discrets’s first album definitely lives in the same sonic territory as those bands, mixing some metal with shoegaze and post rock. What may come as a surprise (and disappointment) to listeners is that this project is even lighter on the metal than either of the other projects. Fans of Alcest’s Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde should definitely take note of these guys, but if you’re just looking for another shoegaze / metal hybrid group, then this is probably not it.
The closest analogue in the metal world might be a slowed down, mellowed-out version of Opeth. The same chord strumming style of riffs and plentiful acoustic guitar parts that often dominate Opeth’s songs also form the backbone of much of Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées. Fursy’s voice is not as rich or evocative as Akerfeldt’s is, but it also isn’t used in the same way. The vocals on Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées generally blend in with the rest of the instruments, drifting languidly from note to note. Some metal stylings like lead guitar riffing and double bass drumming creep in occasionally, but this isn’t by any means a ‘heavy’ album, and it just as often strays into ambient post-rock influenced passages.
If you’re the type who enjoys the mellower side of metal and the recent influx of post-rock-influenced bands, you’ll definitely want to add this album to your collection. Les Discrets’s sound is not as warm as Alcest’s Souvenirs d’un Autre Mond was, but instead it has a nostalgic, wistful, fanciful quality to it, something made all the more evident if you happen to pick up the limited edition art book version, which contains 56 pages of illustrations by Fursy himself to accompany the music. With or without the artistic material, Fursy’s vision is an interesting one, and I think for the right fan it will make quite an impact.
April 3rd, 2010 at 12:26 pm
This isn’t a metal album. Stop comparing it to metal and saying that a dark folk album is disappointing because it’s not metal. That’s just absurdly silly.
April 7th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
I disagree. It may be primarily dark folk but there are certainly some very obvious metal elements in the album. Also because of the band’s association with the metal scene, I think that many of the listeners of the album are going to be metal fans like myself, so it’s perfectly appropriate to make these kinds of comparisons.
April 11th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Incredible shoegaze music. It\’s a modern classic, no doubt.