Silhouette - ''We address the fragility of existence ""

’’ Les Dires de l'Ame’’ is the debut album from Silhouette, it follows from their highly regarded debut Ep ‘’Les Retranchments’’. It is a riveting, mesmerizing journey that encapsulates the fury and bleakness of Black metal and yet rich baroque textures that cast light among the shadows. It is as extreme as it is haunting, earthen as it is ethereal, it is a personal journey of dreams emotions and loss

Achlys (Lead guitar): Yes exactly!

''The album was conceived as a journey within a tumultuous dream.

''The song "L'Appel" is an invitation to dive into the dream and to go through it with its moments of calm, its moments of storm and to drown deeply into one's fears and doubts.

It is divided in two parts, separated by "Adoubée des étoiles". The first part refers to the beginning of the journey, in a contemplative, powerful landscape. The second part is a progressive descent into a nightmare in which we address our fears and phenomena related to sleep such as astral travel and sleep paralysis.

This dream naturally ends with a difficult awakening after which one can wonder if this journey was real.

Each track is almost like a portrait of a much larger canvas that takes time to fully explore?

Achlys: Yes, we can perceive it like that. Each song on the album has a specific theme or refers to a stage of the dream in which we want to immerse the listener. Unlike our first EP, we wanted the album to have a common thread. For example, the song "Les Dires de l'Âme" is a journey through a nightmare that Yharnam imagined during sleep paralysis. "Dysthymie" refers to the state of distress that one can feel during a difficult stage of life such as mourning, loss or disappearance. A kind of whirlwind that leads to the gates of madness.

It has moments of gorgeous beauty both vocally and thematically. A beautiful thought or dream before doubt or nightmares settle in?

Achlys: Yes, we also wanted to represent the most beautiful facets of our dreams. These moments belong only to us and are like small inner worlds. Having no control over certain events in our life and our subconscious, it happens that these landscapes and thoughts quickly turn into a nightmare.

Is the honesty and duality of the song ‘’ Silhouette’’ a reflection of this and the fragility of existence?

''Not necessarily. We address the fragility of existence and especially its abstract nature, but the song Silhouette mainly talks about a duality of feelings. This is the song where we refer to the characters we created and that can be seen on the two covers of our albums. The Silhouette is an unspeakable entity created by light and shadow that appears in our dreams. It can be a guardian and guide as well as dark and malevolent. It reflects the different aspects of our personalities.

’’ Les Dires de l'Ame’’ is also an extreme metal record, do you find it limiting as you grow or will it always be there?

Achlys: "Les Dires de l'Âme" represents a great pride for us. It is a sincere record in which we wanted to share moments and phenomena that we personally go through. It is much more extreme than our first EP because the themes that are addressed are also extreme.

Also, our musical influences evolved. We were inspired by the richness and the massive side of post hardcore bands such as Cult of Luna, Converge or Amenra. So yes, our music is extreme and might not appeal to lots of people, but we do not want to betray ourselves for publicity.

Achlys: I find it quite difficult to put Silhouette into a box or a defined musical genre. I would say that we are closer to post black metal, post hardcore with ambient moments. To simplify, I would say that we simply do post metal. Yharnam, the band's singer, even described the project as oniric black metal! But yes, you are right, we are particularly attached to poetry, French or foreign literature that inspires us a lot. The visual identity of the project is particularly important to us. Yharnam and Ondine are in charge of all the visuals and covers of the band.

Final Thoughts?

Achlys: Thanks a lot for your interest. We hope that this album will resonate for a long time with those who listen to it and that it will accompany your greatest moments of reverie.