There, Where New Colors are Born

There, Where New Colors are Born

There, Where New Colors are Born

If you read the first of the double-blog posts this week, I am going to go into some of my thoughts and philosophy behind putting together thematic playlists to compliment my spotify library, and I did want to go ahead and kick one example out the door this week. (Fun fact; you can click the above link to pull this up in spotify and listen)

"There, Where New Colors are Born" is a playlist that takes it's name from Alcest's Là Où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles, and is a collection of atmospheric, shoegazey, post-black metal.* I felt this was a solid starter point for the blog, because this is probably one of the most approachable playlists I've been slapping together lately. If you're one of the types who isn't into "metal," this playlist should very well challenge your idea of what "metal" even is (start from the top, with Alcest - clean vocals are your friend if you're just now breaking in to these things). It's highly emotional and poetic music, that strikes with a sense of melancholy or longing, and simultaneously, beauty and reverence. As well as simply keeping the musical elements similar to each other, a big part of my thought process/philosophy here was that the music should carry a heavy emotional weight to it.

Alcest themselves are a French band, and the primary inspiration for the playlist, so you'll also notice there's several other French bands in there that are clearly drawing from similar musical inspirations; Les Discrets and Amesoeurs. Interesting fact; Germ is actually a project from Australia, but also has some vocals done by Audrey Sylvain of Amesoeurs, and obviously also has a lot of influence from that particular realm of the French post-black metal scene.

Lifelover is a little heavier, and perhaps even a little out of place on this playlist, but to this day, Sjukdom, when listened from start to finish, is one of the most emotional albums I've heard, and I couldn't help but toss that in there.

If shuffle-play isn't your style; here's the recommended listens to get the intended feel:
Alcest - Là Où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles
Les Discrets - La Traversée
Amesoeurs - Gas in Veins
Germ - Butterfly
Lifelover - Expandera 
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Hypomanie - She Couldn't Find a Flower, But There Was Snow

*So to break that down for you newcomers, I effing love classification of music because it's super interesting.

"Post-black metal" would be what describes the primary genre. When something is "post-whatever," this essentially translates to "music that took root in said genre, but has pushed out past the traditional limits and aesthetics into new territories." 

The other bits are different types of descriptors that aid to more accurately pin down the sound. "Atmospheric" music generally focuses on the timbre of the song; if, in sight, you would describe something such as a movie or television show as "highly visual," then, in hearing, atmospheric music is essentially the equivalent of watching a highly visual film.

"Shoegaze" is a descriptor for the type of guitarwork; it's high-distortion/gain, usually with lots of reverb AND delay, to create a "wall of sound" type of effect, and it's often, characteristically, billowy-soft and pretty pleasant to listen to, as far as metal goes.