As the first few minutes of ‘Before The Dawn Heals Us’ tick by, you find yourself slowly forgetting about the fact that there are like a bazillion people on earth and that not one of them will ever completely understand all of our needs, desires, cravings, passions and actions. Because there’s something about this one record that manages to capture it all, as if it were coming straight from our very souls, with relative ease, it’s everything we’ve been waiting to hear for so long.
It’s music to cry to, music to love to, music to fight to, music to give birth to and of course, music we can only hope to die to, as the end credits roll with spectacular flickerings of pristine beauty and haunting complexity. ITM’s Semone Maksimovic caught up with Mr Anthony Gonzalez, the explosive force behind three indisputably perfect albums. Finding that rather than having some sort of grand plan in place to take over the world, he’s simply in possession of a purely unique vision to bring lush and intricate filmic beauty back to music.
Born and raised in the small and exclusive French town of Antibes (home of the largest Picasso collection), in a relatively music-less atmosphere Anthony found his fondness for music and growing up in the 80s (an important period of music history) influencing him unconsciously. But it was with the discovery of heavy metal at age 10 that had the young Gonzalez inspired enough to pick up the guitar, from here he further evolved musically with the discovery of indie rock and electronic music. “I must say that my influences evolve with time, it is important for me to listen to new things, even to go back and listen to music I might have missed at the time, that could impact me as an artist. It might touch me in a different way than it has touched other artists” he shares.
It was however the discovery of German electronic music from the 70s that really opened Anthony’s ears to the importance in which music can play a part to our emotions. This along with his interest in films and the relationship between the pictures their accompanying scores had him intrigued enough to start his own project to explore these ideas even further. “I find myself as influenced by films as much as I am by music and I’ve always liked the relationship between music and pictures and the additional force which the music can bring to the pictures.”
It was with this fascination that the initial stones in the in the platform of the M83 galaxy were set. Anthony’s first ideas for the project, were to move away from the traditional sonorities of a rock band and discover new sounds and other horizons, so electronic music seemed perfect for these types of experiments. “The sound came rather naturally but it was necessary that I find it because it is important for a band to have its sound identity. I like the bands which you can recognise with the first note of music in a song” explains Anthony of his quest to hone a sound of his very own. “These are the bands which inspire me and which help music to progress. I try to take a little bit of each band I like and try to put it all together with a little bit of myself to create my own sound.”
With such amazing attention to detail, both in the sounds as much as the silences that bridge them -Anthony always leaves that perfect sprinkling of mystery to haunt the listener or have them lost in it’s sheer lushness. As a flurry of breath-taking scenes and images is evoked from the imagination, it’s hard to imagine where such intense visual inspirations may arise from, is it something he usually starts from scratch or something he likes to start with pre-conceived idea about? “It is important to leave a share of mystery, imagination is necessary in the M83 universe. It’s fascinating to see how songs can develop in the imagination of the listener, each interpretation is unique and that’s fantastic” he amazes. “I usually try to compose with a maximum amount of pictures in my head, landscapes inspire me enormously. I like the melancholy and sadness in music, it’s something I can’t explain but it really affects me when it is done sincerely.”
Sincerity is something that’ll always grab you about an M83 composition, even something that shines brightly through on one of his stunning remixes, along with that perfect signature sound of sadness and beauty. So far he’s had everyone from Bumblebeez 81, through to Goldfrapp along with, more recently, Depeche Mode desperate for a hint of that M83 studio sheen. “I like to adapt my sounds and my ideas into a remix. I find that I really need to invest myself to make a successful remix and that is what I also request of bands that remix me. In general, I don’t choose the pieces that I remix, but I do refuse to remix a track when I think that the original is too cool and there’s really nothing I could do to improve on what is already done” reveals Gonzalez.
One of the biggest changes in the M83 camp of late, was the exit of Gonzalez’s partner in crime Nicholas Fromageau after the release of their second album ‘Dead Cities, Red Seas, Lost Ghosts. With many fans eager to know if the project would indeed go on with Anthony now solo, or whether the sound would still sound quite as spine-tinglingly affective. Of course any doubts that may have resided in the hearts and minds of his fans, were instantly thrown right out the window, just as soon as last year’s ‘Until The Dawn Heals Us’ hit the cd racks last year. With the sound even more directional and explosive than the last two albums. Was the move into solo territory at all daunting to Gonzales, or was this a blessing in disguise for him and his sound? “I am a very solitary person, particularly in music. I’ve always been accustomed to composing music alone, but that does not frighten me, on the contrary, it reassures me” he reveals, before concluding “It is a rather particular relationship which I have with my music, it is something intimate, personal. So it’s a good way of protecting myself, I feel less protected when composing with others.”
If you haven’t yet been introduced to the colourful, melancholy sonic escape that is M83 yet, then make sure you don’t waste any more time. You can get a hold of his self-titled debut, along with ‘Dead Cities, Red Seas, Lost Ghosts’ or the more recent 2005 release ‘Before The Dawn Heals Us’ on import through Gooom, Mute Records or EMI France. He’ll be likely to hit our shores for the first time next year on the back of his next release, this year he’ll be hard at work on an upcoming film score and writing for his next stunning studio effort.
