Saturdays = Youth, by M83 (CD on Mute)

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M83 release Saturdays=Youth, the fifth studio album, released on 14th April 2008 on CD and download and LP on 28th April.

For M83's chief star-gazer Anthony Gonzalez, his youth is something he looks back upon with affection, something that has become the defining theme of his enchanting new album, Saturdays=Youth.

The idea of youth – wasted, gilded or otherwise – has featured prominently in M83's music. From early fumblings like At The Party on 2001's self-titled debut to the bliss-fuzz of Teen Angst from 2005's breakthrough album Before The Dawn Heals Us, the French producer's dramatic space-rock tends to evoke the innocence and wonder of this hormonally charged time. But Saturdays=Youth is his most explicit celebration yet of how it feels to be dazed, confused and 15 years old. "Saturday is definitely the coolest day of the week for a teenager and that's the reason Saturday is in the title," he says, as if it needed explaining. "Saturday always reminds everyone of their youth".

The eighties styling extends to the artwork, featuring a host of characters including a red-haired Molly Ringwald lookalike on the sleeve. Gonzalez states his main influences as 80s English bands and classic John Hughes teen movies such as The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles. "On this record I wanted to have the feeling of a teenager mixed with this period of the Eighties," he says. "I also wanted 11 different-sounding songs on the record – none of the songs sound the same." That might be true, but they each sound distinctly, unmistakeably M83.

Recorded with Ken Thomas (Sigur Ros, Sugar Cubes, Cocteau Twins, Suede) and Ewan Pearson (Tracey Thorn, The Rapture, Ladytron) Saturdays = Youth delivers the rich sonic textures for which M83 is well known –this time with a more focused approach to song structure and form.

M83 is Anthony Gonzalez. He lives in Antibes, France.


CD Album
1.     You Appearing
2.     Kim & Jessie
3.     Skin Of The Night
4.     Graveyard Girl
5.     Couleurs
6.     Up !
7.     We Own The Sky
8.     Highway Of Endless Dreams
9.     Too Late
10.     Dark Moves Of Love
11.     Midnight Souls Still Remain

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