Saturdays = Youth: Album Review
A Look at M83's Electronic Music Tribute to the 80s
The French electronic artist M83 released Saturdays = Youth this Monday. The album deviates from his usual style while still keeping the trademark sound of M83 intact.
Anthony Gonzalez, a French electronic musician who has been active for about seven years as M83, has a signature style that is present in all of his music. Drawing influences from shoegaze, ambient, and electronic music, Gonzalez mixes his tracks in a way that is incredibly epic-sounding, even for electronica. All of his works employ light, breathy synthesizers and drums that are combined with grandiose percussion and a driving rhythm. His new album, Saturdays = Youth, sticks true to this formula, but also moves away from it, showing how diverse an artist Gonzalez can be.
Looking Back
The most distinct characteristic of Saturday’s = Youth is its tendency to be seen as a tribute album to the 1980s, Gonzalez’s favorite decade. From the prolific synthesized sound to the stylized, mechanical drums, everything about this album screams 80s, but in a way that is a reminder rather than a carbon copy.
Most importantly, the album sticks true to the larger-than-life feel that Gonzalez established in his previous albums, most specifically the 2005 Before the Dawn Heals Us. This is most distinctly heard in the album’s first single, the dynamic 8:35 “Couleurs” and the closer, the 11-minute ballad “Midnight Souls Still Remain”, which is reminiscent of Gonzalez’s sophomore album, Dead Cities, Red Seas, and Lost Ghosts.
In fact, although there is plenty of evolution in the sound of Saturdays = Youth, there is also plenty of looking back at M83’s previous works. The sheer simplicity of Gonzalez’s ambient project, Digital Shades Vol. 1, released last September, rears its head in the first few notes of the opening song, the piano-heavy “You, Appearing”. This piano slowly evolves into synthesizers, as Gonzalez often does, but it waits until the next track, “Kim & Jessie” to break out into heavy drum kits. As much as Gonzalez may be developing his musical style, he makes sure to remind his listeners that his old sound will still be prevalent.
Looking Ahead
This being said, Gonzalez does a great deal of renovation as far as his musical style is concerned. The first four tracks of the album sound quite different from other M83 albums, mainly because of the prominent use of vocals. While vocals have appeared in other M83 albums, there has never been a verse/chorus/verse song like “Skin of the Night” or “Up!”, and the inclusion of these vocals is at first confusing, but adds new depth to the music, especially with the high, airy voice of Morgan Kibby of The Romanovs.
The Bottom Line
8.0/10. Saturdays = Youth is a solid album that gives a listener everything they would expect from M83 while allowing them to hear the gradual expansion of Gonzalez’s musical talent.
