Les Chants de l'aurore

Les Chants de l'aurore is Alcest's second with Nuclear Blast, after their 2019 album Spiritual Instinct.{{Cite web |last=Heilman |first=Max |date=2024-06-17 |title=Review: Alcest's Les Chants de l'Aurore Reflects Their Bright New Dawn |url=https://www.metalsucks.net/2024/06/17/review-alcest-les-chants-de-laurore-reflects-their-bright-new-dawn/ |access-date=2024-06-18 |website=MetalSucks |language=en}} Before writing the album, Neige, Alcest's primary songwriter, suffered from writer's block during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. After a year, he broke out of it and wrote "L'Envol", which later became the lead single.{{Cite web |last=Wiederhorn |first=John |date=11 October 2024 |title=“I spent a whole year without being able to do anything on the guitar, which was really scary. I thought, ‘OK, maybe I’ve lost it for good’”: How Neige’s ascent from the creative abyss led to Alcest’s most ethereal and life-affirming album |url=https://www.guitarworld.com/features/alcest-neige-les-chants-de-laurore |access-date=13 July 2025 |website=GuitarWorld}} Neige stated that he intentionally tried to emulate the lighter sound of Alcest's earlier albums, as he tended "to be quite melancholic in my daily life, so I [wanted] to make this kind of beautiful music to cheer myself up". Les Chants de l'aurore was recorded at Neige's home instead of a studio.{{Cite web |last=Ruskell |first=Nick |date=7 March 2024 |title=Alcest: “In dark times, to make an album of beauty and positivity could really stick out” |url=https://www.kerrang.com/alcest-interview-niege-les-chants-de-laurore-blackgaze-nuclear-blast |access-date=13 July 2025 |website=Kerrang!}} "L'Envol" was released as the lead single from Les Chants de l'aurore on 23 February 2024.{{Cite web |last=Breihan |first=Tom |date=2024-02-23 |title=Alcest Announce New Album 'Les Chants De L'Aurore', Share New Song "L'Envol": Listen |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2253093/alcest-lenvol/music/ |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=Stereogum |language=en}} "Flamme jumelle" followed on 18 April 2024, as the album's second single.{{Cite web |last=Gonzales |first=Ramon |date=2024-04-18 |title=Alcest Shares Poignant Album Preview With "Flamme Jumelle" |url=https://knotfest.com/blogs/news/alcest-shares-poignant-album-preview-with-flamme-jumelle |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=Knotfest |language=en}}

{{Music ratings

| MC = 77/100{{cite web |title=Les Chants de l'aurore by Alcest Reviews and Tracks |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/les-chants-de-laurore/alcest |publisher=Metacritic |access-date=26 January 2024}}

| rev1 = Blabbermouth.net

| rev1score = 8/10{{Cite web |last=Lawson |first=Dom |date=2024-06-19 |title=Les Chants de l'Aurore |url=https://blabbermouth.net/reviews/les-chants-de-laurore |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=Blabbermouth.net |language=en}}

| rev2 = Decibel

| rev2score = 6/10{{Cite magazine |last=Santos |first=José Carlos |date=July 2024 |title=Record Reviews |magazine=Decibel |publisher=Red Flag Media, Inc. |issue=237 |pages=66–67}}

| rev3 = Exclaim!

| rev3score = 7/10{{Cite web |last=Djurdjićć |first=Marko |date=19 June 2024 |title=Alcest Stay in the Light on 'Les Chants de l'Aurore' |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/alcest-les-chants-de-l-aurore |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=Exclaim! |language=en}}

| rev4 = Kerrang!

| rev4score = 3/5{{Cite web |last=Thomas |first=Olly |date=2024-06-18 |title=Album review: Alcest – Les Chants De L'Aurore |url=https://www.kerrang.com/album-review-alcest-les-chants-de-laurore |access-date=2024-06-18 |website=Kerrang! |language=en}}

| rev5 = Metal.de

| rev5score = 8/10{{Cite web |last=Angela |date=14 June 2024 |title=Alcest - Les Chants De L'Aurore Review |url=https://www.metal.de/reviews/alcest-les-chants-de-laurore-531252/ |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=metal.de |language=de}}

| rev6 = Metal Hammer

| rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{Cite web |last=Mills |first=Matt |date=2024-06-20 |title="Alcest are blackgaze's undisputed masters, no matter how far they sometimes run." Black metal pioneers Alcest return to their roots on Les Chants De L'Aurore |url=https://www.loudersound.com/reviews/alcest-les-chants-de-laurore-album-review |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=Metal Hammer |language=en |via=loudersound}}

| rev7 = MetalSucks

| rev7score = {{Rating|4|5}}

| rev8 = Rock Hard

| rev8score = 8.5/10{{Cite magazine |last=Dörting |first=Thorsten |date=18 June 2024 |title=Les Chants De L´Aurore |url=https://www.rockhard.de/reviews/alcest-les-chants-de-laurore |access-date=2024-06-18 |magazine=Rock Hard |language=de-DE}}

}}

{{Metacritic album prose|Les Chants de l'aurore|positive|77|four}} Dom Lawson of Blabbermouth.net wrote that Les Chants de l'aurore had "stunningly beautiful songs, performed with metal-friendly fire and intensity, but fully committed to the warmth of a new and positive dawn". Marko Djurdić wrote in Exclaim! that "While it still falls short of some of their most celebrated works, the album is gloriously cinematic, although never really surprising". Olly Thomas stated in a review for Kerrang! that the album "often feels like something of a journey, and if the specific destination is ambiguous, the direction is very much into the light". Matt Mills wrote in Metal Hammer that while the album went through "well trodden territory… [Alcest's] signature style still plucks heartstrings". Max Heilman criticized the album's mixing in a MetalSucks review, but stated that "Les Chants de l’Aurore remains plenty of examples of bonafide Alcest awesomeness".

{{Track listing

| headline = Les Chants de l'aurore track listing

| all_lyrics = Neige, except "L'Adieu", written by Guillaume Apollinaire

| all_music = Neige and Winterhalter.

| title1 = Komorebi

| length1 = 6:39

| title2 = L'Envol

| length2 = 8:02

| title3 = Améthyste

| length3 = 8:30

| title4 = Flamme jumelle

| length4 = 5:18

| title5 = Réminiscence

| length5 = 2:51

| title6 = L'Enfant de la lune (月の子)

| length6 = 7:29

| title7 = L'Adieu

| length7 = 4:52

| total_length = 43:41

}}

According to AllMusic:{{Cite web |title=Les Chants de l'Aurore |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/les-chants-de-laurore-mw0004263829#credits |access-date=13 July 2025 |website=AllMusic}}

Alcest

• Neige – vocals, guitar, bass, synthesizer, piano, glockenspiel, mixing, recording, arrangements
• Winterhalter – drums, percussion, sound engineering, recording

Additional contributors

• Elise Aranguren – additional vocals
• Chris Edrich – mixing
• Førtifem – layout
• Gregory Hoepffner – arrangements
• France Lafumat – additional vocals
• Gisli Gunnarsson – additional vocals, arrangements
• Mika Jussila – mastering
• Andy Julia – photography
• {{ill|Yoann Lossel|fr}} – cover art
• Haruna Nakaie – additional vocals, viola de gamba, Japanese spoken word
• Margot Gentil – additional vocals
• Sacha Gentil – additional vocals
• Ai Matsui – Japanese translation on "L'Enfant de la lune"

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Category:2024 albums

Category:Alcest albums

Category:Nuclear Blast albums

Category:Post-rock albums by French artists