M83 is Anthony Gonzalez. Based in Antibes, France, Gonzalez has been crafting dreamy electronica for some seven years, for some time working as part of a duo and, now, exclusively as a solo artist in the studio.
M83’s latest album is ‘Saturdays=Youth’, an ‘80s-infused love-letter to the music that soundtracked Gonzalez’s childhood. Pick it apart and there’ all sorts, from Kate Bush, Tears For Fears and Depeche Mode through to Brian Eno, My Bloody Valentine and the Lost Boys soundtrack.
The record was recorded with assistance from both Ken Thomas and Ewan Pearson – the pair share credits including Sigur Ros, The Sugarcubes, Cocteau Twins, Tracey Thorn and The Rapture. The resulting LP sees M83’s signature sound refined in a pop-savvy manner previously unexplored properly – tracks like ‘Kim & Jessie’ and ‘We Own The Sky’ could have slipped onto any Top of the Pops bill, circa ’82-‘86.
Clash caught up with Gonzalez – also a remixer who’s worked on material by Bloc Party and Goldfrapp – on the phone to talk about his upcoming tour dates – he’s on headline duties this month, and supports Kings Of Leon in December – and the pop-immediacy of ‘Saturdays=Youth’.
Do you find support slots restrictive in any way?
I don’t know about restrictive, but it’s always difficult – the audience are not coming for you, you are not the main band. But fair enough – we know the rules of the game and we know that the people won’t know us. So, it’s a bit difficult to only have 30 or so minutes – it’s a question of putting out a good selection of songs that’ll engage those people. But there’s nothing to lose! We can surprise people, but if they don’t like us it changes nothing – we can only win. So it’s always a good thing to tour with big bands, and I don’t think Kings of Leon fans have the same sort of audience as us.
I’d have to agree.
It’s a good way to reach other people, and other audiences. Because we’ve not been playing much in England, it’s great to be going there twice too.
I had noticed you’d not been here much. Did you not play any festivals?
We didn’t do too many festivals over the summer – we did some in the United States and one or two in France but that was it. Next summer it’d be nice to get out to the festivals – we could not this year because I was working on a project. Maybe next year will be better.
And are the songs on ‘Saturdays=Youth’ geared for airing live? Were they written with playing live in mind?
I mean… lots of my songs are really difficult to reproduce live. There are so many layers and tracks in the songs that it’s always a challenge – a big one – to recreate them live. In the meantime, I don’t think it’s the aim for us to reproduce what’s on the album – I don’t think people will want to hear the album on stage. We just try to do something different, working with the structures and creating new sounds. So, I guess people who like the album, they will be happy because we are trying to take it in new directions when we play live, and I think this is a good thing.
Were there nerves the first few times you played live, given M83’s studio roots?
Yes, and also because I’m quite shy. I guess I am getting better and better each time, with each tour, and I am getting used to it. I really used to hate it! But playing live is more and more attractive to me, and I’m beginning to really like it, so I’m very excited about going on tour for three months with people I love touring with. It’ll be a really great experience.
Is it fair to say the new record’s the most ‘pop’ one you’ve released yet?
I think this one is definitely more pop, so perhaps it’s more immediate for people. I really wanted to recreate the feeling of a great pop song from the 1980s, and this album is a tribute of sorts to that period. It’s different from the previous one, for sure, but in a good way.
Does this pop edge of ‘Saturdays=Youth’ come from working with Ewan and Ken at all?
Working with Ken and Ewan helped me a lot – to be more confident with my vocals, and with the song structures too. I have been able to use traditional pop song structures, you know – verse-chorus-verse structure. That was the aim of this album – to make a sort of tribute to ‘80s music.
I’d say you’ve succeeded, and never once does it sound artificial, or hackneyed…
We were really focused on the fact that we wanted to avoid it being clichéd at all.
You’re a remixer, too – any projects in the works in that respect?
After touring I will work on a new album directly, and maybe a few other projects but they’re pretty uncertain at the moment. I’d rather concentrate on a new album for myself, rather than remixes, as touring like this will give me a lot of ideas for the next album. There’s momentum, and I don’t want that to stop.
Lastly, you’re in the UK ‘til December 22 – are there any early Christmas presents fans can bring you while on tour?
Ha ha… Well, we’re doing Wembley, so that’s a Christmas present in itself. I’m really excited about that, it’ll be really great. And then after that show I’m going to take a break!
‘We Own The Sky’ is released as a single on December 1 via Mute. See M83 live as follows (October headline dates; December supporting Kings Of Leon)…
October (TICKETS)
22 London Scala
24 Dublin Andrews Lane
25 Belfast Speakeasy
26 Glasgow King Tut’s
27 Manchester Ruby Lounge
December (TICKETS)
1 Brighton Brighton Centre
2 Nottingham Trent FM Arena
4 Newcastle Metro Arena
5 Sheffield Sheffield Arena
7 Glasgow SECC
8 Liverpool Echo Arena
10 Birmingham NIA
11 London The O2 Arena
14 Bournemouth BIC
16 Manchester Evenings News Arena
17 Cardiff International Arena
19 Dublin O2
20 Belfast Odyssey Arena
22 London Wembley Arena
