M83's New Album 'Fantasy' Is Out Today On Mute

NEW ALBUM FROM M83, FANTASY, IS OUT TODAY VIA MUTE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR STARTS IN APRIL

credit: Anouck Bertin

Today M83, aka Anthony Gonzalez, releases his 9th studio album Fantasy, via Mute. Prior to release he recently shared the transformative first cut “Ocean’s Niagara” and its accompanying Yann Gonzalez-directed video and then unveiled “Chapter 1”, the first six tracks of the record, featuring the explosive, cinematic standout “Amnesia”. This celebrated release comes ahead of an extensive North American tour that will launch on April 9th in Phoenix and will see M83 play shows across the country and Canada, as well as two festival appearances at Just Like Heaven and Corona Capital. Full dates are listed below For Gonzalez, Fantasy's direction and aesthetic was immediately clear. "I wanted this record to be very impactful live," he says. "The idea was to come back with something closer to the energy of ‘Before The Dawn Heals Us’. The combination of guitars and synths is always in my music, but it’s maybe more present on this new record than on the previous ones." Reserved in nature, Gonzalez also sought to continue a trend that has become more prominent in his recent albums. "I wanted to be more present lyrically and vocally even if that was daunting at first," he states. "I thought if I could achieve that, this album will be more personal than those that came before." Fantasy, M83’s 9th studio album, proves a towering sensory delight and marks his most personal album to date, an alternate world that Gonzalez has created as an escape from the disconnected world we live in today.  Sonically expansive yet tenderly intimate, Gonzalez harnesses a juxtaposition of the unreachable and the omnipresent in a way that leaves the listener feeling unabashedly, heart-blazingly alive.  M83 is the musical vision of French multi-instrumentalist Anthony Gonzalez. Over the span of two decades, he has firmly established himself as an artist whose work transcends mere escapism in favor of full-on worldbuilding. Whether it be via his celebrated studio albums, film soundtracks, or compositions for stage productions, Gonzalez has proven that nothing surpasses his ability to perfectly encapsulate a specific time, emotion, or sense of place. Initially sparked to inspiration from shoegaze, Gonzalez’ body of work spans and blurs multiple genres and realms, from the synth-laden dream-pop found on Saturdays = Youth to the ambient soundscapes of Before The Dawn Heals Us. He has seen grandiose global success with the Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, that features explosive hit single “Midnight City”, and has performed sold out tours around the world. His career has also flourished in the film world, where he has soundtracked the silver screen for films like French director Gilles Marchand's 2011 ‘Black Heaven’, 'Oblivion,' Tom Cruise's sci-fi flick, his brother's films 'Knife & Heart' (starring Vanessa Paradis **** The Guardian) and 'You And The Night’, as well as soundtracking Cirque Du Soleil's VOLTA.   Listen to a playlist of some of M83’s greatest musical moments to date HERE.   M83 2023 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES: 4/9/2023 - Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren  4/10/2023 - Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren- SOLD OUT 4/11/2023 - Albuquerque, NM - Revel 4/13/2023 - San Antonio, TX - The Aztec Theatre 4/14/2023 - Austin, TX - Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater - SOLD OUT 4/15/2023 - Houston, TX - The Lawn at White Oak Music Hall 4/16/2023 - Dallas, TX - House Of Blues - SOLD OUT 4/18/2023 - Nashville, TN - Marathon Music Works 4/19/2023 - Atlanta, GA - The Eastern 4/21/2023 - Philadelphia, PA - Franklin Music Hall 4/22/2023 - Washington, DC - The Anthem 4/23/2023 - Boston, MA - Roadrunner 4/25/2023 - New York, NY - Terminal 5 - SOLD OUT 4/26/2023 - New York, NY - Terminal 5 4/28/2023 - Montreal, QC - MTELUS - SOLD OUT 4/29/2023 - Toronto, ON - HISTORY - SOLD OUT 4/30/2023 - Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre 5/2/2023 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre 5/3/2023 - St. Paul, MN - Palace Theatre 5/5/2023 - Denver, CO - Mission Ballroom 5/6/2023 - Salt Lake City, UT - Ogden Amphitheater - SOLD OUT 5/8/2023 - Portland, OR - Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall 5/9/2023 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom - SOLD OUT 5/10/2023 - Seattle, WA - Showbox SoDo 5/11/2023 - Seattle, WA - Showbox SoDo 5/13/2023 - Pasadena, CA - Just Like Heaven Fest 5/14/2023 - Paso Robles, CA - Vina Robles Amphitheatre 5/16/2023 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater 5/17/2023 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater - SOLD OUT 5/20/2023 - Guadalajara, MX - Corona Capital Guadalajara   M83 EU DATES: 6/7/2023 - Sigulda, LV - Sigulda Castle 6/8/2023 - Vilnius, LT - Lukiškės Prison 6/10/2023 - Helsinki, FI - Sideways Festival 6/17/2023 - Neuchatel,CH - Festi’Neuch 6/18/2023 - Manheim, DE - Maifeld Derby 6/19/2023 - Milan, IT - Magnolia Summer 6/24/2023 - Prague, CZ - Metronome Festival 6/25/2023 - Berlin, DE - Huxley’s 6/27/2023 - Paris, FR - L’Olympia 6/28/2023 - London, UK - Roundhouse 6/29/2023 - London, UK - Roundhouse 7/3/2023 - Luxembourg, LU - Rockhal Club 7/6/2023 - Bilbao, ES - BBK 7/7/2023 - Hérouville Saint Clar, FR - Festival Beauregard 8/11/2023 - Chorzow, PL - FEST Festival 8/12/2023 - Pezinok, SK - Grape Festival 8/13/2023 - Budapest, HU - Sziget Festival 8/18/2023 - Hasselt, BE - Pukkelpop 8/19/2023 - Biddinghuizen, NL - Lowlands Festival Purchase tickets HERE. PRAISE FOR FANTASY: "easily Mr. Gonzalez’s strongest album since 2011, and may be the musician’s best-ever fusion of his ambient and song-focused tendencies." - Wall Street Journal “a confident and proper return” - Exclaim!   “a psychedelic journey of synths and guitars." - UPROXX "It's a return to form for Anthony Gonzalez with his most blissed out, M83-sounding record in quite a while" - Brooklyn Vegan "a deeply personal and ambitious record that shines" - Under The Radar     Fantasy track listing: 1 . Water Deep 2 . Oceans Niagara 3 . Amnesia 4 . Us And The Rest 5 . Earth To Sea 6 . Radar, Far, Gone 7 . Deceiver 8 . Fantasy 9 . Laura 10 . Sunny Boy 11 . Kool Nuit 12 . Sunny Boy Part 2  13 . Dismemberment Bureau Purchase or stream Fantasy HERE Watch & listen to “Oceans Niagara” HERE CONNECT WITH M83: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | WEB CONNECT WITH MUTE: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | WEB