There are a lot of new album announcements and M83’s was predicted to drop sooner or later. I don’t know about the album art though.
Today M83, aka Anthony Gonzalez, announces the details of his new forthcoming full-length album, FANTASY, that will see release on March 17th, 2023 via Mute and is available to pre-order HERE.
In addition to this news, M83 has shared the sweeping, transformative first cut “Oceans Niagara”. Accompanying the track is a video directed by his long-time creative collaborator, filmmaker (Knife + Heart, You And The Night) and brother Yann Gonzalez.
Stream or purchase “Ocean’s Niagara” HERE.
“BEYOND ADVENTURE”, Gonzalez sings into a trademark M83 swirl of synths & guitars. These are the only two words in the entirety of “Oceans Niagara”, a proclamation with an ellipsis, and the most apt tone-setting for the evocative, sense-amplifying journey that is Fantasy.
Commenting on the track/video, Gonzalez offers: “Very proud to present the first track of my new album ‘Fantasy’. It’s called ‘Oceans Niagara’ and it’s the very first collaboration between my brother Yann Gonzalez and myself on a music video. I wanted to create this sense of friendship. Listening to that song, I imagine people running, driving fast, or riding spaceships together. It’s this sense of going forward, like a magic potion that you take to discover new worlds. Beyond Adventure!”
Video director Yann Gonzalez adds: “‘Oceans Niagara’ is the perfect synthesis of M83’s music: a wall of sound and emotions that goes crescendo until it climaxes, with moments of pure melodic ecstasy that personally make me feel like I’m floating, loving and crying all at once, almost like being a teenager again. This is the first time I’m directing a music video for Anthony and this was a great chance for us to share our common references and emotions from our own childhood and teenage years with hints of our favorite French-Japanese animes, horror films and kid’s strange TV shows from the ‘80s and ‘90s.”
For Gonzalez, Fantasy‘s direction and aesthetic was immediately clear. “I wanted this record to be very impactful live,” he says. “The idea was to come back with something closer to the energy of Before The Dawn Heals Us. The combination of guitars and synths is always in my music, but it’s maybe more present on this new record than on the previous ones.”
Reserved in nature, Gonzalez also sought to continue a trend that has become more prominent in his recent albums. “I wanted to be more present lyrically and vocally even if that was daunting at first,” he states. “I thought if I could achieve that, this album will be more personal than those that came before.”
Fantasy, M83’s 9th studio album, proves a towering sensory delight and marks his most personal album to date, an alternate world that Gonzalez has created as an escape from the disconnected world we live in today.
Sonically expansive yet tenderly intimate, Gonzalez harnesses a juxtaposition of the unreachable and the omnipresent in a way that leaves the listener feeling unabashedly, heart-blazingly alive.
M83 is the musical vision of French multi-instrumentalist Anthony Gonzalez. Over the span of two decades, he has firmly established himself as an artist whose work transcends mere escapism in favor of full-on worldbuilding. Whether it be via his celebrated studio albums, film soundtracks, or compositions for stage productions, Gonzalez has proven that nothing surpasses his ability to perfectly encapsulate a specific time, emotion, or sense of place.
Initially sparked to inspiration from shoegaze, Gonzalez’ body of work spans and blurs multiple genres and realms, from the synth-laden dream-pop found on Saturdays = Youth to the ambient soundscapes of Before The Dawn Heals Us. He has seen grandiose global success with the Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, that features explosive hit single “Midnight City” and has performed sold out tours around the world. His career has also flourished in the film world, where he has soundtracked the silver screen for films like French director Gilles Marchand’s 2011 ‘Black Heaven’, ‘Oblivion,’ Tom Cruise’s sci-fi flick, his brother’s films ‘Knife & Heart’ (starring Vanessa Paradis **** The Guardian) and ‘You And The Night’, as well as soundtracking Cirque Du Soleil’s VOLTA.
Listen to a playlist of some of M83’s greatest musical moments to date HERE.
M83 has also announced news of an extensive North American tour that will launch this April and run through the end of May. Full dates are listed below.
Tickets for the tour will go on sale this Friday, January 13th at 10:00 AM local time and are available for purchase HERE.
M83 2023 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES:
4/10/2023 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
4/11/2023 – Albuquerque, NM – El Rey Theater
4/13/2023 – San Antonio, TX – The Aztec Theatre
4/14/2023 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
4/15/2023 – Houston, TX – The Lawn at White Oak Music Hall
4/16/2023 – Dallas, TX – House Of Blues
4/18/2023 – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
4/19/2023 – Atlanta, GA – The Eastern
4/21/2023 – Philadelphia, PA – Franklin Music Hall
4/22/2023 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
4/23/2023 – Boston, MA – Roadrunner
4/25/2023 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
4/28/2023 – Montreal, QC – MTELUS
4/29/2023 – Toronto, ON – HISTORY
4/30/2023 – Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
5/2/2023 – Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre
5/3/2023 – St. Paul, MN – Palace Theatre
5/5/2023 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
5/6/2023 – Salt Lake City, UT – Ogden Amphitheater
5/8/2023 – Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
5/9/2023 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
5/10/2023 – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo
5/14/2023 – Paso Robles, CA – Vina Robles Amphitheatre
5/16/2023 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
