M83 - Fantasy
Dream Pop – March 17, 2023 – 13 songs, 66 mins
ROZ
The band in today’s review has been filling up my music news feeds for the last few weeks, and not in a good way. M83’s founding member (and only member who has stuck through the bands lengthy existence) Anthony Gonzalez made waves on the electronic dance music scene by having some choice words over the demographic that helped him break out into the mainstream, wishing he could “erase” them (sheesh) as a fan base. While he did walk it back after the backlash, it still seemed to be an odd attack considering the style of music M83 has made - and still makes - and the obvious crossover that would come naturally from it. Anyway, let’s keep it positive going forward folks. I mean other than the frontman's disdain for his most commercially successful song, and his disdain for electronic music, and his disdain for…actually you know what, let’s just move on. Here is M83’s Fantasy.
Fantasy has Gonzalez and his small team turn the dial a little more away from the “pop” aspect of the “dream pop” genre, producing tracks that take their time and border on being purely ambient in nature. The signature M83 sound rings true from front to back however, with heavy amounts of reverberation washing out the synthesized elements to create an ethereal sound found throughout the band's catalog. The pacing is slow and meticulous, with tracks Deceiver and Kool Nuit exemplifying this the most throughout their six and eight minute song lengths, respectively. While I personally found enjoyment in the scaling and progression of these longer ventures, I could still see how agonizing this strategy could be for a casual listener. If you weren’t a fan of shoegaze or dream pop before, this album isn’t exactly going to change your mind.
Pivoting away from the album itself, it has to be highlighted that M83’s live show is an absolute spectacle and Gonzalez is a huge part of that - as someone who’s seen them both on the festival circuit and also on their other album tours, I have never left an M83 show disappointed. I can’t see that being any different for the upcoming North American tour coinciding with the release of this album, and from personal experience I know that the synth heavy presence and distorted electric stylings translate amazingly onto any system or setup; a statement that leads us to my favourite song from the album. Titular track Fantasy lives up to the pressure of being the albums namesake with it’s high energy drums, catchy hook and crafty use of tension and release that will surely get the crowd going when it is played out live. If you really had to choose just one, I would recommend giving this song your time.
The biggest realization that came to me throughout this review process was how damn talented frontman and brainchild of the project, Anthony Gonzalez, really is. By the end of my listening experience and after digging deeper into the personal, human side of the man I could not keep thinking about him as some sort of asshole version of Kevin Parker, a man with such a vision for how they want their music to sound and such a high quality means to execute that vision; if only he wasn’t such a prick. Nevertheless, that quality has failed to stop a multitude of musicians from finding success, and compared to a lot of controversy on the scene these days an attitude problem is relatively tame.
Fantasy is a slow burn that will not be for everyone. In spite of that, Gonzalez shows that he is an auteur of his craft with a distinct vision and enormous musical talent. He also happens to be very full of himself, which is… unfortunate.
Overall Rating: 7.7/10
Favourite Song: Fantasy
LUNDI
There’s a spell binding effect in music whereby we often become fixated on recreating the peak of a musicians career rather than enjoying all the moments that surround it. Sometimes you get the one album wonders never to be heard from again while other instances bands skirt by on the edges with underwhelming careers despite giving it their all. The unfortunate reality of every attempt at a return to glory is pretty simple: this damn game of music is hard and sustained success is next to impossible. The most frustrating of all though is the musician that has every skill in the book but for some strange reason doesn’t want to do what it takes to achieve greatness. Welcome to this weeks artist M83 and their eight album, Fantasy.
I’ll try and be brief with this one since lead singer and M83 creative Anthony Gonzalez refuses to be. Fantasy is downright beautiful. It’s mesmerizing as M83 continue to develop some of the most unique and positive sounding arrangements ever put to tape. Tracks Amnesia, Fantasy and Kool Nuit show the immersive and forward thinking talent the band has at their disposal. The album is meticulous synth work at its finest that could easily be argued as unmatched across the entire industry. Gonzalez can only be described as a musical wizard with what he builds on the synthesizer and electronic drums. It is always easy to know when you’re listening to M83.
But for every single good decision on Fantasy there’s a bad one. Gonzalez may be brimming with skill but he’s clearly self indulgent. You can simply get that impression by just digging into M83’s discography, but if you can’t find his narcissism on display through the music then just go ahead read some personal quotes or monitor the exodus of bandmates through the years. Gonzalez has never been shy to critique fans, bloggers, other musicians and just about anyone in the music industry. Now sure, none of this directly means Fantasy should be downgraded but indirectly his entire persona leads to M83 being one majorly infuriating experience.
70, 57, 61, 36, 62, 73, 56, and now 66. Not one damn record in eight tries is below the album length average of 35 minutes. If you have something to say by all means say it but without digging into each album in the bands history I’d wager every entry has 10-20 minutes of intros and outros with Fantasy being no different. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good world building song but M83 want nothing but. Seemingly every song begins from a singular note and ends on a singular note with about 5-6 minutes of ascending and descending in between. Concise was just never an option leaving the album to have a lasting impression of messiness. Never has the band heard of brevity and fuck, maybe neither have I. On to the next one.
Frustratingly beautiful. Fantasy is packed with awe inspiring song moments unnecessarily wrapped in overly extended intros and outros. Through eight albums M83 still haven’t learned the value in minimalism.
Overall Rating: 7.0/10
Favourite Song: Amnesia
REID
If you’re following along at home, Reido is not a fan of dream pop. Like Lundi to rap and Roz to…committing to move home, this genre isn’t for me. Yada yada, subjectivity. I just cannot connect to this style like the boys. The last example was Once Twice Melody (2022) by Beach House, where I dragged the TSR score down like covid to the stock market. It was one of Lundi’s favourites of the year and we discussed his exuberance as well as my displeasure at the 18 minute mark of our year end podcast. Well, it’s a new year and it’s time to give it another go. #forthebrand.
The name M83 is derived from Messier 83, a galaxy containing discs of stars, gas and dust spinning in a circular motion. Also known as a spiral galaxy. My previous experience is just their smash single Midnight City from Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming (2011). Memories of Osheaga 2016 weekend always spark when it’s played. I stumbled upon a recent interview by NME while digging to find out a little more about the man behind the music and the five-eyed figure on the album cover. ‘’Nowadays we have to show our face, to take selfies and show ‘our true self’,” Gonzalez told NME. “I wanted to create this monster with sad eyes and an ugly face, far away from regular life. Everyday life bores me to death, you know? I want to keep dreaming, I want to keep having fantasies about worlds that I don’t know and creatures I don’t understand, and that’s the story behind this record.’’ Anthony Gonzalez is an introvert in its purest form and the article is very revealing of his character. Other than banking on his talent to make a living, it seems he has no interest in pleasing anyone but himself.
As stated in the interview, Gonzalez seeks to take the listener on his journey of ‘forgotten worlds and dreams and magic potions’ but you know what that comes with? Exploration. And these expeditions come with long stretches of nothingness. The album has anywhere from 15-25 minutes of it. Kool Nuit is a seven-minute song and the first three plus minutes are spent attempting to set a mood. On Sunny Boy Part 2, me and the boys are sitting in the waiting room on Halo waiting for the next multiplayer game to fire up. Build-ups are effective when used properly but there’s too much waiting.
Gonzalez is an incredible talent, no doubt. His synth work is next level and his ability to create a band feel is impressive. At the end of the day, the highs are high but the lows last too long.
Fantasy is a record with flashes of brilliance overshadowed by long stretches of nothing. Gonzalez attempts to create an ambiance but lulls the listener to sleep.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Song: Laura