French electronic band M83 has released the second film of their three-part video series, Extazus. This second part accompanies the second song they’ve released recently, “Lune De Fiel,” leading up to the release of their eighth studio album, DSVII. The first single, “Temple of Sorrow,” was released earlier this month, and was also accompanied by the premiere of the first film in the Extazus saga. This project will be a sequel to their 2007 project, and one of the first few releases of their career, Digital Shades Vol. 1.  M83’s most recent full-length release came in the form of their 2016 album Junk.

“Lune De Fiel” follows the same long-haired and elderly author as “Temple of Sorrow”, and filmmaker Bertrand Mandico utilizes essentially the exact same visual style (black and white for the man’s reality, and full color for his outlandish creative vision of the Extazus novel). “Lune De Fiel” picks up right where the first film left off, with the author announcing his invention of a new heroine, Peach Machine, just as the Nirvana Queen had instructed him to at the end of “Temple of Sorrow”. This second video continues the trend of blurring the lines between the author’s reality and his fictional universe. Anthony Gonzalez’s twinkling synths and fast moving snares and cymbal hits are a great accompaniment to the psychedelic video. Editing tricks like constant cross-fades and less well-defined visual conventions make the video even more interesting and difficult to interpret. I look forward to finding out how M83 and Mandico conclude the Extazus series after the bizarre and violent conclusion to “Lune De Fiel”.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat