Before it turned into an ‘80s-inspired pop project, the band had more in common with Mogwai.
Before it turned into an ‘80s-inspired pop project, the band had more in common with Mogwai.
New York City got hit with a hell of a snowstorm last week. And, inevitably, when I’m watching the snow fall, wandering the oddly quiet streets after dark, people hiding inside and staying warm, I put on M83’s sophomore record, Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts.
Before Nicolas Fromageau left the band and Anthony Gonzalez embraced traditional pop song structures, saxophone solos, and teen angst, M83 released two albums of mostly instrumental music. The self-titled debut album is kind of forgettable, but the second one finds the French duo taking inspiration from the repetitive bombast of Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Dead Cities is a decidedly French twist on post-rock grandeur, building blankets of sound from drum machines, analog synths, and heavily compressed guitar.
There’s a sense of liminality to Dead Cities, an uncanny atmosphere that lives up to its name. Listening to the gently repeating melody of “Be Wild” as the track slowly accumulates layers, it’s impossible not to imagine walking through a once bustling city that now lies freshly abandoned. “America” captures the panic of The Twilight Zone’s “Where Is Everybody?” as frantic drums, My Bloody Valentine-esque guitar, and uneasy synths build to an early crescendo.
You can tell something is wrong from moment one, though. The record opens with “Birds,” a 54-second chant:
Sun is shining
Birds are singing
Flowers are growing
Clouds are looming and I am flying
The computerized voice is initially bathed in digital distortion, slowly resolving into a soothing tone that inherently feels untrustworthy. There is no sun. There are no birds. And there are no flowers. The album opens by lying to you before launching into highlight “Unrecorded.”
“Unrecorded” feels like the mission statement for the record. Analog arpeggios, driving drums, droney guitars, manipulated vocals, and cinematic synth strings all combine in a wall of snow-bound sound. Listening to tracks like this, it’s shocking that another 10 years for Hollywood to enlist M83 to score a film (2013’s Oblivion).
M83 would eventually go on to record shoegaze-indebted retro pop, scoring hits like “Kim & Jessie” and the absolutely inescapable “Midnight City.” But before that, the group explored something more cinematic and open-ended.
Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts is available on Bandcamp and most streaming platforms, including Apple Music, YouTube Music, Qobuz, Deezer, and Spotify.
