Vision Éternel

Vision Éternel is a Canadian melogaze, ambient and shoegaze band based in Montreal, Quebec. The band was formed in January of 2007 by guitarist Alexandre Julien, while experimenting with various guitar effects during a studio recording session. The band's name is pronounced like Vision Eternal in English. The purpose of the name's original spelling is purely for aesthetics. Vision Éternel specializes in concept albums. Recurring themes center around infatuation, abandonment, emptiness, heartbreak, loneliness, isolation, depression, melancholia, nostalgia and nihilism. Because of his dissatisfaction being labeled as an ambient, dark ambient or post-rock band, Alexandre Julien ultimately coined a new term to describe Vision Éternel's sound: melogaze. The new word allows for a connection between the style of music that is played and the dramatic themes that are represented. The band is also known for portraying a bygone era of Montreal, depicting the city as an Anglophone metropolis prior to the Quiet Revolution of the 1960's. Part of this image is recreated in videos and pictures which feature Alexandre Julien wearing fedora hats and turned-up overcoats, an image he credits to his obsession with classic films, especially film noirs (and neo-noirs), expressionism and dramas. Directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Douglas Sirk and Jean-Pierre Melville have been cited as major influences for Vision Éternel. Over its ten-year span, Vision Éternel has released five extended plays; "Seul Dans L'obsession" in 2007, "Un Automne En Solitude" in 2008, "Abondance De Périls" in 2010, "The Last Great Torch Song" in 2012, and "Echoes From Forgotten Hearts" in 2015. The first two EPs were released through Mortification Records, while Abridged Pause Recordings has handled the distribution of the three most recent albums. In 2009, a Japanese-exclusive compilation was released by Frozen Veins Records, entitled "An Anthology Of Past Misfortunes", which compiled all of the material released by Mortification Records, in addition to unreleased b-sides and a poster. The band has also released three music videos for Love Within Narcosis, Season In Absence and Pièce No. Trois. A retrospective boxed set has been announced for 2017.