Vandaag kondigt M83 (Anthony Gonzalez), de details aan van zijn aankomende nieuwe

album Fantasy, dat op 17 maart 2023 uitkomt. In aanvulling op dit nieuws brengt M83 de ingrijpende en transformerende eerste single Oceans Niagara uit, wat een radicale transformatie kenbaar maakt in het geluid en imago van M83. Bij het nummer hoort een video die is geregisseerd door Gonzalez’ jarenlange creatieve medewerker, filmmaker (Knife + Heart, You And The Night) en broer 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.

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.

M83 has also announced news of an extensive North American tour that will launch this April and run through the end of May, featuring festival appearances at both Just Like Heaven in Pasadena, California and Corona Capitol in Guadalajara, Mexico. Full dates including European festival dates are listed below.

EU TOUR DATES:

6/7/2023 – Sigulda Castle, Latvia

6/8/2023 – Lukiskes Prison, Lithuania

6/10/2023 – Helsinki Sideways Festival, Finland

6/24/2023 – Metronome Festival, Czech Republic

7/7/2023 – Beauregard Festival, France

8/12/2023 – Grape Festival, Slovakia

8/13/2023 – Sziget, Hungary