Loving M83

June 10, 2008 by Matthew Send to a Friend

So this past Saturday, before their sold out show at the Black Cat, I sat down with the man behind M83, Anthony Gonzalez, for a short interview, to talk about the new (and great) record, growing up and modular keyboards.. He’s one of the nicest, most gracious musicians I’ve ever met, and if I didn’t have a man-crush on him before, I definitely do now.

BYT: So the new album, Saturdays = Youth, has slightly more traditional song structure and is more lyrical than your past albums. What inspired that?
Anthony Gonzalez: It’s a bit different. It’s more pop than the previous ones and that’s a new thing for me. I’ve never done something like this before. And even if there are a lot of songs that are darker and more like the previous albums, some of the songs are like classic songs with the verse-chorus-verse structure. It was important to me to do something different this time because it’s my 5th album and I’m evolving and I think that my music is evolving at the same time, so we are evolving together.
BYT: What in particular inspired the pop side of the new album? It’s got a bit of an 80s feel.
AG: Oh yeah totally. The main influence is the 80s music, but also 90s music because I was a teenager during the 90s. It’s a mix of people that I used to listen to, especially bands like Tears for Fears and Cocteau Twins, but also movies from the 80s as well. So yeah, 80s!

BYT: Right before this album, you released Digital Shades, Vol. 1, which is completely different than Saturdays = Youth. Which of these two albums represents more of your direction going forward?
AG: I really consider Digital Shades more of a side project because I can do everything on my own in the south of France in my studio in Antibes. I can experiment with whatever I want. It’s completely different from the real studio albums and I am really proud of it.

BYT: So when you recorded Saturdays = Youth, you didn’t record the whole album by yourself then?
AG: What I like to do is write all of the music alone and then share that music with other people like producers and other musicians. I like to be alone for the composition portion of the album, but after that I bring others in to assist with the actual making of the album.

BYT: So going forward, do you think you’ll continue going in the pop direction that Saturdays = Youth has taken?
AG: I don’t know yet, I like to try something different each time and I don’t know what the next time will look like yet. I’m sure it will be different than what I’ve done in the past.

BYT: So I saw some photos of the live show, what exactly is the instrument that you’re playing, the clear plastic box with all of the wires?
AG: It’s a modular synthesizer, and a small company in Los Angeles called Live Wire made it for me.

BYT: So it’s a unique instrument to you then?
AG: Oh yes, very unique, I wanted something very futuristic. It’s a really awesome instrument, I can do a lot of sounds with it, I can do some rhythms with it. It’s totally insane, it’s fucking crazy. I just got it about a month ago, so it’s a new toy. I like to experiment with it.

BYT: And you’ve got some sort of plastic shield around the drum kit too, what exactly is that?
AG: It’s a drum shield for better acoustics. It also creates a sort of unity with the look of the synthesizer.

BYT: So when you bring songs from the studio to the stage, how do you decide how you’re going to re-create the songs live since there are so many layers and so much going on in the studio recordings?
AG: It’s really hard to reproduce exactly what’s on the record because everything is so produced and affected. What we’re trying to do is to keep the structure of the songs like the record, but on some of the songs we are trying to do something different, a different version of the songs. It’s better like that, I think it’s useless if you do the exact same thing live that you did on the record.

BYT: And do you reproduce all of the vocals live? I only ask because I saw you several years ago, and most of the vocals were sampled.
AG: Yeah yeah yeah. It’s a different project on stage than it was a few years ago.

BYT: So I noticed on the last three albums, the last song on each album is a long, ambient song. I was just curious what story you are trying to tell there. Why does every album end like that?
AG: I really don’t know why. It’s like a drug, I have to stop it, I have to quit it. Every record has a very long outro. The best music for me is ambient music, I can listen to ambient music every hour of every day. It’s the perfect music to me, and that’s maybe the reason I like to end my records like that. It’s a part of myself.

BYT: After those songs go on for a while, they start to repeat at the end. How do you decide where to end the songs? How do you know when it’s over?
AG: I don’t know. It’s really hard for me to say, “Okay, this song is finished.” I always want to add something else and it’s really difficult for me to end a song. Because I like a lot of repetitive musicians like Steve Reich and Phillip Glass, I take in their inspiration to end my albums.

BYT: You’ve done a lot of remixes and also have had others remix your music. What do you enjoy about remixes other people’s music?
AG: I like it because it’s a totally different process. You’re starting with a song that already exists, which is completely different than starting songs from nothing. What I like to do when I remix a band is keep the vocals and change the entire melody around. I think it’s more interesting this way because when another band asks to remix my music, I like them to put their sound on my music and to put their identity on it.

BYT: How do you feel about it when other bands remix your songs? Do you enjoy that?
AG: Yeah, I just like them to feel free to do whatever they want to try with my music.

BYT: Well I think my time is up, thanks for taking the time to sit down with me this evening, and I’m looking forward to the show.
AG: Oh cool, you’re welcome.

The show was absolutely fantastic.

Anthony and his three-piece backing band rocked songs primarily from Saturdays = Youth and Before the Dawn Heals Us, though the show opened with a stunning, reworked version of “Run Into Flowers” from Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts. The drummer kicked some serious ass and the female keyboardist’s vocals were incredible, especially during a breathtaking rendition of “Skin of the Night,” on which the Cocteau Twins influence stands front and center. The plastic box was in full effect, creating all sorts of wild noises all night long, living up to Mr. Gonzalez’s “fucking crazy” description. I think what impressed me most was how engaging some of the slower, instrumental songs were live. These types of songs have a propensity to drift when played live, but their placement and the pacing of the set was just perfect, never creating a dull moment.

The encore, “Couleurs,” was spruced up by some additional guitar work, turning it into a giant instrumental rock anthem. The crowd begged and pleaded for one more song, but it was not to be, though I held out an ounce of hope that they’d come back to play “Teen Angst,” which surprisingly was left off the setlist.