photo credit: Jake Hanson
This set of remixes and session follow up previous reworkings last month of title track “Fantasy” coming from Sofia Kourtesis and Kelbin. They follow a year of extensive and wildly-praised touring across North America and Europe in celebration of Fantasy. More exciting remixes will arrive this year, with further details forthcoming.
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. PRAISE FOR FANTASY: “aerodynamic yet explosive when it needs to be; like NASA, Gonzalez never wants you to lose sight of how he brought the impossible within reach. When he belts out “beyond adventure!”—soaring with every overdubbed guitar harmony and drum fill—there’s a sincerity that cannot be manufactured." - Pitchfork "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 true return to form" - BILLBOARD "What keeps M83 intriguing is their smart use of dynamics, a love for ambient bliss, and the overall immersive vibe that lures you in. Other bands might construct simpler soundtracks, but there’s more nuance and depth here." - AV CLUB “music so epic that it sounds like running through clouds” - Stereogum "Anthony Gonzalez’s ninth LP shines so bright it should come with a special pair of sunglasses." - FLOOD “a confident and proper return” - Exclaim! “a psychedelic journey of synths and guitars." - UPROXX | 
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