I know it's not Tuesday - but I'm going to do a dance album anyway. I just feel in that sort of mood this morning. So we touch on M83 - which is an act by a French musician Anthony Gonzalez. It's name is derived from the spiral galaxy, Messier 83. The band has been around since 2001 - the same year he dropped the debut album. The album however, didn't release outside of Europe until 2005. The album simply didn't take off, and it wasn't until the 2nd studio release in 2003 that a label took notice, and released the original worldwide. Gonzalez employs an array of other people to help him with the music. He has a composer and then some folks that play instruments at live events and recordings. The feel of the music is very transcendent. I think there is a term called "shoegazing" that M83 uses. What is that exactly? I'll try to paraphrase it. Shoegazing is typically the artistry of using heavy distortions, riffs that keep reverberating and using sounds that sort of create this wall of sound. While they use guitar to keep the distortion, it's not the main focus of the sound. Everything is supposed to sort of blend together and create this very subdued, dreaming effect. Does it work? You be the judge. This album is supposed to be all about dreams. The sort of dreams you have as a kid, a teenager and then an adult. Tough subject to concur. But the goal would be to have this album feel like the dream state, and summarize the change in patterns throughout life. I don't know much about the other drops, but most people hail this as the best M83 has done yet. Even Gonzalez himself called this "epic". I'm kind of up in the air. I really like the sound and I like the feel - but reading through the intention, I don't feel it. This doesn't invoke emotion like the artist intended for me. That's always a bummer. But the music is still really solid. If you like Passion Pit, you'll like this too.
TRACK LISTING:
DISC ONE
1. Intro
2. Midnight City
3. Reunion
4. Where the Boats Go
5. Wait
6. Raconte-Moi Une Histoire
7. Train to Pluton
8. Claudia Lewis
9. This Bright Flash
10. When Will You Come Home?
11. Soon, My Friend
DISC TWO
12. My Tears Are Becoming a Sea
13. New Map
14. OK Pal
15. Another Wave From You
16. Splendor
17. Year One, One UFO
18. Fountains
19. Steve McQueen
20. Echoes of Mine
21. Klaus I Love You
22. Outro
Listen To Samples
Top 3 Tracks:
1. Midnight City
2. Fountains
3. This Bright Flash
FINAL RATING:
3.25 out of 5 stars
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