Solo project of Neige. As a child, Neige had dreams about a "Fairy Land", "a place with colours, forms and sounds that do not exist here." The music of Alcest is highly influenced by these dream experiences.
Starting out playing raw black metal with a line-up including La Sale Famine de Valfunde with whom Neige played in Peste Noire until being fired in 2009, Alcest soon evolved into metal with strong post-rock and shoegaze influences.
The band's name Alcest doesn't have any meaning; Neige just chose it for its noble ethereal sound and couldn't imagine any other name in its pronunciation ("Al-sest", IPA: [al'sɛst]) to fit better with this music.