For an astronomer, M83 is one of the closest and brightest spiral galaxies in the sky. For those more interested in music, M83 is Anthony Gonzalez and his latest album of electronic treats is standing by for your listening pleasure.
It’s an album he hopes will take you back through the wonder years of your youth. It is in these formidable years that we get to experiment, we have no responsibilities and some of the best times of our lives. We act out, we act like we know, and we pretend to do it with a naïve sense of grace and beauty. “You are at the real beginning of life and you really start to experiment with new things, new music, new people,” says 26-year-old Gonzalez, sitting back in his chair. Apparently, once you grow up you have to occupy all your time being responsible and doing adult things. Who knew? The good news is, that even the most serious of serious still get a Saturday. You can make all the mistakes you want on a Saturday because Sunday will always be there to pick up the pieces.
For Gonzalez, these teen themes have been the focus of his new album aptly titled,
Saturdays = Youth. This fifth release marks a departure from the otherworldly ambiance of
Digital Shades Vol 1 and makes way for some electronic crescendos bursting with apocalypse wow.
Within his wall of sound there has always lurked a fascination with desperate youth, and a dislike for when things are too perfect. “When things are a bit dirty,” he explains, “I like it a lot.” Gonzalez declares that Saturdays are for the youth, “It is the most important day for a teenager, the best day ever.” And as for the repercussions, “I have such bad memories about Sunday.” Don’t we all.
Saturdays = Youth still has the melodic lines M83 fans cry out for in the night, but sees a return to a more formal song structure. The premise of this album was to bring together eleven different songs and to create an eclectic album. Gonzalez views the album as more of a collection of songs than a specific narrative.
Gonzalez communicates sound in a different way with every release, each time paving a new direction for the M83 project. Earlier LPs have united emotional, electronic climaxes with tragic lyrics that consume you until you cry.
Saturdays however, develops a certain structure and style through layers of guitars, keys, drums and synthesizers. Gonzalez is very aware of this; “The shape of the music is constantly changing” and this most recent cache of sound brings with it an evolution of sorts. This time, Gonzalez detours into the sounds of the 80s and into his own youth – it’s all teen themes, 80s dreams and graveyard screams.
This change in direction since
Digital Shades Vol 1 can, in part, be attributed to the helping hands received in producing the record. Gonzalez has tagged two others into the ring with him, the likes of whom have enough production credits that prove they have the skills to pay the bills. “The idea with this record was to share my ideas with other people.” Enter please, Ken Thomas (whose credits include Cocteau Twins and Sigur Ros) and Ewan Pearson (of The Rapture, Ladytron and Goldfrapp fame). Combining Thomas’s experience since the 80s with a more modern approach to producing music from Pearson, Gonzalez felt that these two complemented each other and M83 perfectly. “Having the two working together has made the record really terrific, combining all the features and bringing it all together.”
“Most of the bands that are walking on 80s sounds are choosing this because of the kitsch side of things, the cheesy lyrics, stuff like that… my relationship is like really sincere, there is no irony about me and the 80s.” Gonzalez appreciates that the decade had a lot of good things going for it, “When you were listening to the radio you could hear some fucking good music on the air and it was new music at the time, new experiments on music; a really creative period.”
Gonzalez concedes that the positive response in the past has given him a lot of confidence. “Being a musician is fun to be able to take your creations out of the studio, out of your country and introduce them to the rest of the world.” It’s a collection of memories, a highway to an endless dream that has the Frenchman travelling up, down, and all around.
The future is bright with possibilities of new people, new producers, new ideas and new creations. He likes change almost as much as he likes a Saturday.
Saturdays = Youth will be released on Mute Records on the 15th April.