M83

M83's mastermind Anthony Gonzalez has finally found a muse that's worthy of his immense creativity: youth. Now, we're talking youth in the sense of whimsical '80s films, where the protagonists experiment, grow up, learn and change over the course of a weekend. It's those idyllic Saturdays of learning about love, sex and drugs that fascinate Gonzalez, and Saturdays=Youth functions as his love letter to those days. The album emanates an exuberant vitality, by lamenting the loss of youth through praising it. Gonzalez has taken a more pop approach this time around letting, his falsetto shine through on numerous tracks and channeling Prince and classic '80s rock in the process. However, this isn't a mere throwback, Gonzalez overlays these melodies with a electronic flourishes and entrancing keyboards that create a strangely seductive soundscape listeners can't help but become entrenched in.

Opener "You Appearing" instantly hypnotizes with a crescendo from slow electronics to an ecstatic pop explosion. "Kim and Jessie" pulls listeners right back to those youthful days and continues Gonzalez's strange trip back through high school. 11-minute closer "Midnight Soul Remains" could be that unforgettable summer vacation that capped off the school year. The album explores the joy and sorrow of high school, as well as everything in between. In the end, M83 makes music for your youth without overtly ripping off influences. It's a trip back to the future well worth taking.

—Rick Florino
04.28.08

Like fellow Frenchmen Air and Daft Punk, M83's Anthony Gonzalez has the knack for making sounds others might think of as outdated, or even tacky, into music that feels stylish and fresh. Saturdays=Youth lives up to its evocative title, but the youth it captures is filtered through nostalgia for the unrepentantly fake sounds of the '80s, transforming them into delicate fantasy pop. Synths whoosh like wind tunnels and ping like lasers, guitars are whipped into ethereal froth, the drums are robotic and proud of it, and the production reproduces the cleaner-than-clean, almost brittle style of the era almost too perfectly. The largely instrumental "Couleurs" races through the night on synth and drum swells that haven't been heard since Miami Vice's heyday, while "Skin of the Night" sounds like it borrows Phil Collins' kit from No Jacket Required.

Though Saturdays=Youth often plays like a love letter to artists ranging from the Cocteau Twins to Mr. Mister, it never seems like an exercise designed to just re-create those sounds. The cinematic feel of Before the Dawn Heals Us is stronger than ever here, from the 11-minute finale "Midnight Souls Still Remain," which unfolds like closing credits, to the Breakfast Club-meets-fashion shoot album cover, which makes Saturdays=Youth appear to be the soundtrack to the most glamorous film John Hughes never made. This hyper-stylized teen romance and angst drive the album, taking it to the highest highs and the lowest lows. "We Own the Sky" is jubilant, stretching out into a summery haze of airy vocals and synths; "Too Late" contemplates the end in melodramatic, ultra-romantic fashion, ending with a whispered "you, always."

Saturdays=Youth also features some of M83's purest pop yet, which provide many of the album's standouts. "Kim & Jessie" heart-racing young love is one of Gonzalez' finest sonic confections, along with "Graveyard Girl" and the Kate Bush-worshipping "Up!," a sci-fi fairytale that boasts some fittingly unearthly singing by guest vocalist Morgan Kibby. As super-stylized as its sounds and emotions are, Saturdays=Youth always seems genuine, even when it feels like its songs are made from the memories of other songs. For all of its nostalgic haze, it's some of M83's most focused music. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide