Jours Pâles - Éclosion (2021)

I’m really not sure what it is with French bands who play this style of music but reading behind the lines one wonders if members entwined in their line-ups are difficult to work with. Personally, I was incredibly disappointed that Amesoeurs broke up after just one amazing album. It was a while after but along came Asphodèle who although containing only Audrey Sylvain from the group were musically of the same style and certainly filled a gap. Then guess what, after just one album they split. That album was Jours Pâles and now slightly confusingly we have a new band made up of past members of Asphodèle taking on that name and delivering their debut Eclosion. So here we have vocalist Spellbound (Aorlhac) and Christian Larsson (ex Shining) emerging from the ruins of the previous act along with guitarist James Sloan (Aleynmord & Uada) and Phalène on drums. I guess this makes it even more of an international affair but I was slightly sad to see Audrey was out as I love her voice, however that is not to say Eclosion is completely lacking in femininity but we will come to that in due course.

Having played Jours Pâles the album back-to-back with Jours Pâles the band there is not a huge stylistic shift and it is really a shame about the name change as it would have made things a lot simpler if they had been able to retain the old one. A catchy guitar line takes us into this new chapter and the harsh vocals of Spellbound growl in behind it. We are ‘Illuminated’ by a style that borders between post atmospheric black metal and post punk, just one listen should have you falling for its melodic charm as the contrasts between harshness and dreamy lushness combine with captivating aplomb. Spellbound has a really expressive stance from growls to clean sweeps and spoken parts, here and on the whole versed in native French. The musicianship which on this track moves into rich ethereality is equally (well there’s no better word) spellbinding. There’s plenty of motion to be found such as the fast gallop into ‘Aux confins du silence’ an urgent dash littered with a well-oiled bouncy jauntiness that makes you want to both headbang and pogo around the living room. Bombastic and full of life this is far from depressive or indeed “silence” and is a song that really sees the band going for it and seemingly enjoying doing so. A depressive tinge is however not far away as the maudlin guitar and spoken sad sampled passage that leads into ‘Ma dysthymie, sa vastitude’ proves. Dysthymia is vast for sure and vocals are tortured with it, well I wasn’t expecting an album that was completely happy and the bipolar nature of it perfectly illustrates life with all its ups and downs. Is the title ‘Le chant du cygne’ displaying some sort of gallic gallows humour? Well, it means swan song and listening to it one can only hope that this will not be the case for this album. Happily, for the moment we coast along with the end of the rainbow nowhere in sight as the moods of light and dark shades perpetuate this somewhat turbulent number reflecting a myriad of emotions on the way.

The melodies here completely entrance and so we come to that aforementioned femininity, absolutely delightfully displayed on Eclamé via Ondine Dupont (Silhouette and artist behind the cover and many more) who literally takes my breath away and has me swooning; a perfect accompaniment to Spellbound’s ravenous growls. The title track which means Hatching and is certainly what this band has done has yet more absolutely sublime melodies, fast paced gallops and plenty of substance designed to sweep the listener off their feet, there’s also a huge amount of drama to the vocals making it another track I simply cannot get enough of. Larsson really gets in with the thick bass action shaking the speakers on Suivant l’astre and Sloan’s guitar work weaves and practically does a flamenco around things, building into a dervish of speed. Nothing quite prepares you for another guest appearance on ‘Des jours à rallonge’ this time from Graf of Russian group Psychonaut 4, talk about knocking you off your feet, its absolutely feral and really powerful. I think a closing instrumental is a good idea, one needs to calm and chill out a little after what has come before it. C2H6O proves the perfect ethanol on a superb album that’s nothing short of a triumph as far as I’m concerned.