ALCEST
VENUE ELECTRIC BRIXTON, LONDON
DATE 11/12/2024
On this cold and wet December evening, the streets are swarming with shoppers and festive music is blasting out at every corner. Prog spots a couple of blackgaze kindred spirits in the distance and knows that tonight’s venue can’t be far. The sold-out Electric Brixton is buzzing with excitement for Alcest; it’s their first London show in four years. The French duo have come a long way since they played in the capital’s Purple Turtle pub in 2012: their current European tour has even seen them play at the iconic Parisian venue L’Olympia, the most famous concert hall in France and arguably a bucketlist achievement for any aspiring French musician. Komorebi’s gently thumping and melodic opening notes are like a warm embrace. Described as a feeling rather than a word, the song’s title comes from a Japanese term literally meaning ‘sunlight leaking through trees’.