Alcest起初是由neige，hegnor，arguth三人共同組成的黑金屬樂隊，成立于1999年。隨著時間的推移，Alcest逐漸演變成neige一個人的音樂載體。而音樂風格也由最初冰冷生猛的黑金屬向shoegaze乃至后搖轉變。2005年，Alcest發行了一張廣受好評的EP，許多評論將其視為一張憂郁的黑金屬唱片，但這種說法幾乎讓Neige沮喪得瘋掉。在一次采訪中他對記者說，這樣的評論對他來說意味著自己沒有成功而有效地傳達了自己的想法。而他本人所希望的是創作出一張夢幻的贊美詩，讓聽者與他一起在某一個遙遠的夢幻島上旅行。"夢幻島"是一個陪著Neige從小到大的概念，從小他就幻想著自己與遠方的某片仙境之地有著某種聯系。擁有如此這般法國式的浪漫氣質，他自然不能接受樂評將他的音樂與"黑暗"，"焦慮"這些詞語聯系到一起。 2007年8月，Alcest的首張專輯發行，這是一張浪漫到骨子里的唱片。這依次，樂評們再也無法將"黑金"安在他身上，而Neige頭腦中所有關于夢幻島的美好想象也在專輯中得到詩意的體現。 Alcest is a French shoegazing band/musical project (formerly a black metal band) from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France, founded and led by Neige (Stéphane Paut). It began in 2000 as a black metal solo project by Neige, soon a trio, but following the release of their first demo in 2001, band members Aegnor and Argoth left the band, leaving Neige as the sole member. This marked a change in style, as Alcest's subsequent releases have more often been described as shoegazing mixing numerous rock and metal influences, including black metal and post-metal. In 2009 the ex-Peste Noire's drummer Winterhalter (now in Les Discrets) joined Alcest's studio line-up, after eight years with Neige as the sole full time member. Since its creation, Alcest has released three studio albums.