Lost Shelter

Even with hindsight being 20/20, it was easy to predict that France's Alcest, would eventually cast off black metal's influence on its sound. While Burzum's Filosofem provided inspiration for 2007's full-length debut, Souvenirs d'un Autre, recordings by My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Slowdive, and Lush did too. Alcest may not have been the first "blackgaze" band, but until Deafheaven broke through with 2013's brilliant Sunbather, they were its most famous proponents. Shelter, Alcest's fourth album, finally transcends all of metal's musical, sonic, and aesthetic tropes. It is deeply indebted to its '90s British inspirational sources and wholly invested in the melodic sensibilities this group has displayed from the very beginning. Songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Neige (Stéphane Paut) and drummer Jean “Winterhalter” Deflandre enlisted Sigur Rós' Sundlaugin Studio, and its producer, Birgir Jón Birgisson…

The Lost Sessions Vol. 2 is the second (obviously) Rolling Stones outtakes on Empress Valley. Similar to the first volume the material here is not collated in any strict fashion but rather takes bits and pieces from various sessions. The subtitle of this release is The Auction Reel since this is the tape that was auctioned at Sotheby’s several years ago. The tracks here are all in excellent quality and present some interesting insights…