M83 – Saturdays = Youth[Mute; 25/02/2008]
Unlike Anthony Gonzales’ looks, M83’s music has always stayed in ‘80s. Fortunately the Rod Stewart haircuts don’t evoke from the suspect days of hairdressing, however what Gonzales manages to construe with M83’s latest album, Saturdays = Youth is a refined catalogue of sounds that will make you avoid the skip button on your preferred choice of listening device.
‘You Appearing’ is held together by a perpetual piano line that brims with beauty and a vocal loop of “It’s Your Face”. ‘Kim & Jesse’ could lead a French contemporary soundtrack of music, with the instrumentation a near mirror of what Air have created over the last 10 years; all in a good way, though. ‘Skin of the Night’ and ‘We Own the Sky’ both rank as contenders for dream-pop tracks of the year, with a real Cocteau Twins aura about the respective tracks. Lead single, ‘Graveyard Girl’, sounds like Gonzales has taken the best part of a Killers single and transformed it into something worthy.
Apart from Dead Cities, Red Seas, & Lost Ghosts, M83 have shown an inconsistency, with solid singles covering the weaknesses of their ability to created solidarity in the ranks of a full-length album. Thankfully, Saturdays = Youth can match their previous yardstick, with Gonzales managing to unleash a consistent and cathartic form ‘80s keyboard esque shoegazing sounds.
By Simon K
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