Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
According to producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen, M83 has completed their seventh studio album and follow up to 2011’s crossover smash Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. This release marks the second consecutive time Meldal-Johnsen has worked with the French electronic group.
Led by chief member Anthony Gonzalez, M83 has had a history of critical acclaim, but very little in the way of mainstream success. But collaborating with Meldal-Johnsen on Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming changed everything for the group, giving them their first taste of commercial success. The first single from the album, “Midnight City,” brought along significant rock radio play, headlining appearances at summer music festivals and a place among many year-end best-of lists, including our own Top 40 Albums of 2011 list:
Even the instrumentals are unskippable. Those tracks are there for a reason, like a 600-page novel with every sentence deemed important and necessary. There is no filler here.
While five years is a significant chunk of time to pass between proper studio releases, especially when the general thought is buzzed-about artists should quickly capitalize on the attention, Gonzalez and M83 have been quite busy since 2011. Projects during that time span included collaborating with Jean-Michael Jarre, reissuing their first three records, releasing videos for singles like “Claudia Lewis,” “Midnight City,” “Reunion” and “Wait,” and scoring the soundtrack for the Tom Cruise sci-fi vehicle Oblivion.
Meanwhile, Meldal-Johnsen has kept up his reputation for being one of the best producers in the business. He worked on the debut release of Greg Puciato-fronted super group The Black Queen as well as taking the controls for Paramore and Young the Giant on their latest full-length records. Another significant project of note he has worked on is the final School of Seven Bells record, completed after Benjamin Curtis died of T-cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma in the winter of 2013.
M83 is scheduled to play a handful of dates in Europe:
06-16-19 Dover, Delaware – Firefly Festival
07-07-08 Bilbao, Spain – Bilbao BBK Live
07-09 Lisbon, Portugal – NOS Alive
08-10-17 Budapest, Hungary – Sziget Fest
08-12-14 Helsinki, Finland – Flow Festival Helsinki
08-11-13 Gothenburg, Sweden – Way Out West Fest
UPDATE 1 (12:45 PST):
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly which was published today, Gonzalez had this to say about the group’s latest release:
“It’s a very strong album with a lot of eclecticism. It’s very epic. There’s a lot of different genres that are not supposed to live together but I tried to make them live together, which is quite challenging. It’s also quite different from the previous albums which is what I’m the most proud of.”
Also revealed in the interview is the news that vocalist and keyboardist Morgan Kibby will not be featured on the album because she is working on her own solo album. However, Gonzalez does make the promise that there will be “unexpected” guests on the release.
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