Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By M83, Virgin Music 2023.
M83 were formed in France in 1999 and Fantasy is the ninth album that they’ve released.
The band was formed by school friends Anthony Gonzalez and Nicholas Fromageau. However, Nicholas left the band after the tour following the release of their second album Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts.
Gonzalez has carried on as the main songwriter and lead vocalist, he employs various musicians to record and tour with but the writing and production decisions are his decisions.
Although many of the personnel involved have been ‘band members’ for quite some time, M83 is in effect a solo project. Gonzalez has lived in Los Angeles for many years.
M83 music has varied over the years from ‘80s inspired electro-pop through to dream, shoegaze, and ambient and this album has tracks that fall into each of these categories.
The opening three tracks, Deep Water, Oceans Niagara, and Earth to Sea are definitely in the ambient camp while the following two, Amnesia and Us And The Rest are ‘80s retro electro-pop.
Radar Far Gone is classic shoegaze. The seventh track sees a return to ambient.
The predominant mood of the album is dreamy and spiritual. Songs are spacious with long drawn-out floating sounds.
Track seven, Deceiver, is an ambient track that has many of the hallmarks of a Brian Eno piece. Even the limited vocals are treated as instruments.
The ambient tracks are largely instrumentals while the sung tracks are more pop orientated.
Fantasy is an album that grew on me the more I listened to it.
The title track even offers an interesting disco inspired rhythm mixed with swirling keyboards. I was just waiting for the falsetto of the Bee Gees to kick in. It did but it wasn’t the Bee Gees.
I’m not surprised that Anthony Gonzalez’s music has been featured in film and T.V. productions. He has developed a career around building soundscapes that are evocative of place, mood, and feelings.
Fantasy is my introduction to M83 and although it’s not a style of music that I would usually choose for my listening pleasure I admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Easy listening on a wet Sunday afternoon.
