Fantasy M83

• 1Water Deep03:11
• 2Oceans Niagara04:31
• 3Amnesia04:03
• 4Us And The Rest05:31
• 5Earth To Sea06:40
• 6Radar, Far, Gone04:05
• 7Deceiver06:29
• 8Fantasy04:34
• 9Laura04:08
• 10Sunny Boy06:04
• 11Kool Nuit07:56
• 12Sunny Boy Part 201:59
• 13Dismemberment Bureau07:05
• Total Runtime01:06:16

Info for Fantasy

M83 announces the details of his new forthcoming full-length album, FANTASY, that will see release on March 17th. 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.

“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.

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.

Anthony Gonzalez aka M83

Anthony Gonzalez aka M83
It’s a talent Anthony Gonzalez has clearly mastered with Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, a double album that brokers a brilliantly effective accord between the ostensibly conflicting demands of commercial pop and experimental rock, and packs some truly giant tunes. The Antibes native has been steadily working to perfect the art of the megalithic alt.pop song since founding M83 in 2001. His self-titled debut from that year and sophomore release two years later, Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts established him as a heavy hitter in the post-rock/bliss pop/cosmic electronica league, a skilled producer of hazy, lusciously layered, irresistibly narcotized, epic dreamscapes crafted (essentially solo) from treated electronics, plush synths, murmured vocals and fx-heavy guitar.

It was 2008’s Saturdays = Youth, a nostalgia-soaked paean to Gonzalez’s teenage years – and an unashamed celebration of artists such as Kate Bush and Jean-Michel Jarre – that paved the way for the monumental Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, released in October 18th, 2011.

Co-produced by bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen (best known for his work with Beck, NIN, The Mars Volta) and mixed by Tony Hoffer (Air, Kooks) it took just 13 months to complete and features guest vocalists Zola Jesus (on ‘Intro’) and Brad Laner (‘Splendor’), plus contributions from Gonzalez’s long-term collaborator, his brother Yann. The album title is also a neat summary of the record’s twin tempers – urgent and introspective – and of Gonzalez’s dual identity as dancefloor enthusiast and solipsistic muser. Kings Of Leon, The Killers and Depeche Mode – all of whom M83 toured with in 2010 – can also take some credit for Gonzalez’s newly beefy vocals.

This album contains no booklet.