Weekend Playlist #2: M83 Edition
Antibes' Anthony Gonzalez is back with a new album and more weirdness.
Before Stranger Things, there was M83 plumbing the depths of 80s nostalgia with angular synthesizers and bizarro cinematic images full of fantastic creatures and kids with telekinetic powers.
M83 is really Anthony Gonzalez, who was born and raised in Antibes, France. And while France’s Daft Punk has tended to get a lot of international hype over the years, M83 has also had its moments of global success over the past two decades.
If you know M83, it’s likely for their hit song Midnight City from the 2011 album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, which was nominated for a Grammy. Gonzalez has long talked about his music being inspired by films, and as part of Hurry Up, M83 produced a trilogy of videos (Midnight City, Reunion, and Wait) that tell the story of some kids with telekinetic powers escaping from some lab into the real world. There are glowing eyes and electrodes strapped to heads and kids using their brains to throw cars. (Hello, 11!)
In 2021, M83 expanded that story with a prequel video set to My Tears Are Becoming A Sea in which a woman in labor is being rushed to the hospital when the car goes off the bridge but is saved by her glowing fetus.
Since the success of Hurry Up, Gonalez has either been making albums that seem to be running away from public success or soundtracks. But last week, M83 released Fantasy, probably its best and most accessible album since Hurry Up.
Naturally, it includes the single Oceans Niagra with lyrics comprised of just two words (beyond adventure!) and a video (made by Gonzalez’s brother) that stars a creepy, multi-eyed alien-beast creature playing some kind of video game that features three teenagers going through some ecstatic transformation.
In other words, M83 is back so get ready to embrace the weird.
If you’re new to M83, here's a sample of some of my favorite tracks, including a remix of a song The Pioneers originally by the band Bloc that was featured in the German Netflix show Dark. It’s possibly one of the most powerful uses of soundtrack music I had ever seen (even if the series was ultimately a disappointment). Enjoy!
Chris O’Brien
Le Pecq