Music, Style & Culture

M83: ‘I Wasn’t Proud Of ‘Saturdays = Youth’

The French musician speaks to DIY about detachment from his previous album and the drive pushing him to create a new one.

M83 received high acclaim with his last album ‘Saturdays = Youth’, not exactly mass recognition but definitely concentrated in certain places and circles. Despite topping many End of Year lists with that release, as time went on touring on the back of the album he slowly became increasingly disillusioned by the record.

Instead Anthony Gonzalez (real name drop alert!) moved to Los Angeles and began work on a trying to top that. Inspired by the vast urban landscape, Gonzalez took his time to produce a record of bewildering dream-like proportions. The result being ‘Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming’, released in October to the surprise of mainstream commercial success.

The French musician speaks to DIY in a swanky High Street Kensington hotel about his detachment from the success of his last album, the drive pushing him to create such an epic new record and soundtracking ‘Where The Wild Things Are’.

There was a three year gap between these last two releases, was there a big tour after ‘Saturdays = Youth’ that make this period seem shorter in actual fact?
Yeah, we toured for about a year and a half after the last record, and the way that I work meant that I didn’t compose anything at all during this time but I was constantly thinking a lot about my next move. And this gave me quite a lot of time to reflect too. So it took quite a while but that was down to the sheer intensity of the tour.

I guess considering how well received album, even topping many End of Year lists in 2008, you must have thought “Hmm, how am I going to top this?”
See, the thing is that I wasn’t really that proud of ‘Saturdays = Youth’. It’s possibly the least favourite album of mine. So I was so ready and looking forward to working on a new one after that. So then after that tour cycle came to an end, around January 2010, I then moved to LA. And then that next year was spent working on this.

Were you always intending on it being a double album, because whether you yourself liked it or not you must have thought that you needed something big to follow that at least from a fan’s perspective. Or was it rather a case of merely gathering so much material when it came to recording?
It wasn’t always my intention but the possibility was at the back of my head for some time. Since I was a teenager, I’ve always been really blown away by expansive records and ambitious music; so I’ve constantly dreamed of doing a double album like this one day. In the build up to this, I was listening to the likes of Smashing Pumpkins ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’ and the ways these records work really fascinated me. There’s something cool about imagining the band in a studio working so hard, precisely crafting the record. I wanted to almost overthink the concept with my own. You could say that writing this album was fulfilling one of my life’s ambitions then.

I guess it’s was the perfect time to do so then, because it’s kind of like saying to the fans “If you liked the last one, then this is even bigger!”
Yeah, I felt really ready to do this project. You know, I just turned 30 years of age and started feeling like I have so many more things to say. So it’s the perfect timing, as you said. Even though it can be quite challenging in this current music industry to release a two CD thing without many singles, it never really mattered to me personally.

But, non-commercially speaking, did you worry that in this modern world people wouldn’t want to listen to a twin disc release?
Well, I felt like no matter what people were going to think about this album, I was always going to do it any way. I just wanted to do something that I’m proud of. I don’t want to have any regrets with this album. It sounds quite selfish to say, but I wanted to do something for myself. I was having a blast when I recorded this album! But at the same time I was feeling so many different emotions; I was crying, I was dancing, I was feeling happy and I felt that if I was feeling that emotional making it then there must be some people who would feel the same way.

What made you so inspired then?
Moving to LA. Moving to a different country, city, culture and environment changes everything. I was finally free to do whatever I wanted to. There was a great feeling of freedom while recording this album. Just the feeling of driving home on the highway through downtown, that atmosphere inspired the single ‘Midnight City’ in particular. I was just driving around at night with all the big buildings and lights around me, listening to great music and I got this feeling of being at the centre of things and in the heart of the city. I just wanted to pay tribute to this experience.

You collaborated with Zola Jesus on the ‘Intro’ track of the album, did this meeting come about in LA?
Yeah, I contacted her because I’m a huge fan but it was actually really funny because she tried to contact me at the exact same time, just two days difference. She’s living in LA as well and so we met up and totally clicked. It was just amazing how connected we were. I feel like she the same vision of music, so it was so much fun working with her.

The album at times sounds like it could have soundtracked the film adaptation of ‘Where The Wild Things Are’, are you a fan?
Oh, I love that film but I don’t really like the soundtrack actually. I’m not saying it’s necessarily bad, just doesn’t seem to fit as the right soundtrack for the movie. I feel like it could have been way dreamier and way more epic. If I had written the score, it would have been something totally different.