Clair Cassis - S/T 2010

and i quote:

"-Why exactly did you end Velvet Cacoon so abruptly to begin Clair Cassis? I think myself and others were quite shocked because the fabulous "P aa opal poere pr.33" was such a step up from "Genevieve" and it had an original style all of it's own which really seemed like it could be developed even further. So what happened? Why did CC supplant VC?

J: Clair Cassis is essentially a "pop" version of Velvet Cacoon. Whereas VC consisted of longer, dense, production-heavy black metal wrapped in a haze of guitar distortions, Clair Cassis is a cleaner, more coherent and compacted version.. the songs are short and sweet, like empty calories. Saccharine metal. We wanted CC stuff to be catchy (by black metal standards) with a strong focus on quality songwriting. All the baggage attached to VC just wasn't fun anymore, so it made sense to go out with a bang (Atropine/33).



...

-Although you describe Clair Cassis as being "less atmospheric" than Velvet Cacoon, there's still a prevailing moody undercurrent that conjures the spirit of "Dextronaut" and even "P aa....". I think we can both agree on that?

J: Yeah there's definitely a little atmosphere to add in some color.. it's not a bone dry and raw black metal sound. We wanted to keep the album short and to the point, like the older pop records from the 60's. With VC we tried to make the albums flow together so much that it was one big hazy blur. With Clair Cassis there is more of an emphasis on each song being it's own little thing, each song has its own personality, each one its own atmospheric style.

-Some of the tracks on the CC debut are quite puzzling. "Hazelhearted in the Seaparlour", "Our Overwintering in the Ivories" and "The Feathered Fog" for instance seem to make little sense to us, but maybe they mean something to you?

J: I think it's silly to try to convey any deep message via lyrics in black metal, so I prefer to make everything really pretty. I call it wordpainting, drugs taught me this. I think these colorful wordplays do a good job at describing the music we create, moreso than some bland title like "The Dark Mountain" that's too ambiguous to mean anything at all. "







interpret at will, either with or without VC. i think 'pop VC' is pretty apt, it kind of sounds like the transition of the bands that went into and emerged from the alcest/amesoeurs groups. listen to hazelhearted next to, say, avalon polo. its a pretty distinct change without losing the tone.





and say what you will, they still sound great sitting next to korouva.

1.	Ambercandle	05:41
2.	The Feathered Fog	04:31
3.	Kir Royale	02:57
4.	Our Overwintering in the Ivories	04:54
5.	Pearls & Pinesmoke	06:48
6.	Noctilucent Petrichor	03:54
7.	Hazelhearted in the Seaparlour	04:42

http://www.mediafire.com/?zfjmzzmm5qk