M83 Live at Richards on Richards, Vancouver

Anthony Gonzales and Saturdays=Youth's Epic Electronica

Nov 29, 2008

France's electronic upstart Anthony Gonzales and his band M83 proved that bigger sounds are best, during this November 26 stop on their North American tour.

Best known for layering synth, samples and guitars so high as to create a giant shoulder-pad-sized 80s wall of sound, it’s fitting that M83 takes its own wall on tour for live shows. It may not be typical to see a band’s drummer ensconced behind a 7-foot-high plexiglass wall on a stage in a club that holds 500, but then, typical probably means rien to M83 mastermind Anthony Gonzales.

1980s Electro-Rock Renaissance

This is, after all, a Frenchman who has built his discography around a hodgepodge of nostalgic musical touch-points. Think John Hughes’ Breakfast Club/Sixteen Candles teen-angst soundtracks trading off between shoegazing guitar, ambient electronica and processed, gothy vocals. Hardly a recipe for success, now is it?

Rammed to the rafters with art-house fashionistas, university meatheads, preppy girls and indie record-store clerks, the Vancouver audience proved that Gonzales is connecting a lot of dots. And if he needed to put drummer Loic Maurin behind a wall to ensure that the enormous sound of drums didn’t overtake the enormous sound of his band’s knob-twiddling and guitar-string-bending up front, so be it. He seems to know what he’s doing.

Live Band Saves Gonzales from Certain Dullness

Not that you’d know from the outset of the show. The gig’s first track, Run into Flowers (from 2003’s Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts) began loud, thick and bass-heavy, and sent fans at the front reaching for the pints they’d rested on the amps – their beers were practically bouncing. But despite the volume, Gonzales looked reserved.

And with their singer staring too intently at his boxes of buttons, touring drummer Maurin, singer and co-synth player Morgan Kibby and bass/guitar-player Pierre-Marie Maulini did well to distract attention from their distracted leader. Maurin’s manic energy was infectious as he bashed out breakbeats on the drum pads. Kibby (of California band The Romanovs) channelled her inner gothling and bashed at her keys with gusto. But Gonzales? Eh, bonjour? Would one call this French cool or a slow start?

It wasn't until the band dug into tracks from the latest album Saturdays = Youth that Gonzales (and the audience) began to truly thaw. He began to smile, bounce around, play off of Kibby and tell the crowd ‘ow ‘ee loves play-eeng in Von-coo-vehr. And obviously Von-coo-vehr loved his newer, poppier stuff, right back.

Soppy synth songs “Kim & Jessie”, “Graveyard Girl”, and Kate Bush Hounds of Love-era pastiche “Up!” were greeted warmly. But it was “We Own the Sky” and “Skin of the Night” – powered by Maurin’s solid drumming from his plexicastle and Kibby and Gonzales’ wooshy vocals - that truly excelled, despite the venue’s muddy sound.

By the time the massive and dark “A Guitar and a Heart” (from 2005’s Before the Dawn Heals Us) and superb electro-club anthem of “Couleurs” hit at the encore, the crowd was swooning. Slow and steady clearly won the race here.

M83 tours the UK in December. For more information, visit iloveM83.com. M83 at Richards on Richards in Vancouver, BC, was presented by Timbre Productions Concerts.

The copyright of the article M83 Live at Richards on Richards, Vancouver in Electronica (Music) is owned by Mikala Taylor. Permission to republish M83 Live at Richards on Richards, Vancouver in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.