M83 – Intro (Feat. Zola Jesus)
If ever there was a song that provided the soundtrack to riding unicorns through the heavens whilst rainbows exploded from golden clouds and silver liquid flowed like waterfalls to the sunlit landscape below, it has to be M83‘s latest single and album opener “Intro”. Also featuring the vocal talents of Zola Jesus, another person capable of blending the electronic with the emotional in a highly accomplished manner, this is easily one of Anthony Gonzalez’ finest songs ever.
‘Epic’ is a term often employed to describe M83′s music, but it’s usage to describe “Intro” can be disputed by no one. After beginning with a massive oscillating synth line for the first minute, Gonzalez’ vocals then hit which sound very different to how we’ve ever heard him sing before – instead of soft French tones his vocal technique is sharper, higher and shoutier. In fact, it’s almost emo in its delivery but works amazingly alongside the instrumental, which by this point has developed into something resembling a more rhythmic version of “Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun”. At the two minute mark Zola Jesus appears as does a kick drum, with the track seeming to pump along with your heartbeat. Then, with everything getting almost unbearably amazing, the three minute mark sees Gonzalez’ trademark choirs n’ drums n’ cascading synths take over reminding you exactly what he does better than anyone. Truly, this is remarkable stuff and we can’t even begin to imagine how stunning it will sound in a live context.
New album “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming” won’t be released until October but we may or may not have heard it in full and may or may not be able to confirm that it’s quite magnificent – but we’ll leave discussion of that until a later date. Of course, we couldn’t let a post about M83 slide by without posting some older classics. So first of all wrap your ears around the glitched up Jackson remix of “Run Into Flowers”, one of the first songs that fully instigated our love for electronic music. Then take a listen to Luciano‘s excellent tribal house take on the heavenly “In Church” which featured on his Fabric mix a couple of years back. Finally let “Slowly” from Gonzalez’ self-titled debut, one of his less well known but most brilliant tracks, wash over you like an entire sea of synthesizers. All three are exemplary pieces of work.
M83 - Intro (Feat. Zola Jesus)
M83 - Run Into Flowers (Jackson Remix)
M83 - In Church (Luciano Fabric Edit)
M83 - Slowly
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