As the door opens to room 414, Anthony Gonzalez, M83 principal, rubs his eyes. There’s a drama, he arrived in Australia from France at 6am this morning sans equipment. It’s stuck in Singapore with the sound engineer. Gonzalez doesn’t know if tonight’s show at the Enmore Theatre can go on. He’s tired and there’s a lot to do, besides this interview. Still he smiles politely and offers me a seat on the couch.
Renowned for his graceful, spacey sound, Gonzalez cites his influences as Brian Eno, John Hughes and landscapes. I ask if he means John Hughes the criminal, the diplomat, or the Welsh writer…
In spite of the fatigue, he laughs. “No, I am talking about the director. He made Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club.”
Movies about the teenage years. With its dawdling reverb, analogue synths and soft lyrics, M83’s forth and latest album Saturdays Youth is a deliberate attempt to evoke the sound and mood of Gonzalez’s own teenage years. Why is this album so inspired by nostalgia for youth?
“Even in the previous record, Before the Dawn Heals Us, some of the lyrics talked about teenage years, like teen angst. I am fascinated by this period because I discovered so many things – new music, new movies, new friends, it’s really the most important period of my life. And an important period for everybody as well. I think it’s beautiful.”
What kind of music did you discover at that time?
“Well, I guess when I was about 13 or 14 I was discovering German music from the ‘80s. For me it was all new. Bands like Tangerine Dream and Can. I was listening to a lot of guitar music, a lot of rock. When I first hear this sort of spacey psychedelic music, it opened a new window for me. I started to make electronic music at this moment.”
Did you move on from rock?
“I never really gave up electric music. I think M83 is more a mix of electric music, not only electronic music. There are a lot of electric instruments on the album, guitars and bass, so I think I like the combination of the two. I like to do some stuff very electronic and sometimes I like to change and more acoustic. This is part of the project.”
How do you introduce collaborators into your work?
“What I usually do is compose music alone. When it’s time to record, I just need, like, my drummer who is playing with me on tour. Both of us can use pretty much all the instruments and record all the music – my drummer can play guitars, bass, piano. It’s not difficult music to play. It’s very easy, so it’s more about a feeling – and now with the computer you can do a lot of good things as well so it helps. A lot.”
For what do you use the computer in music production?
“It depends. For this album I used the computer only for recording, no software. Only acoustic and electric instruments and only analogue synths from the ‘70s and ‘80s. But it depends on the record. In the last one we worked a lot with computers, so I like to change.”
The latest album uses slow-pacing and instrumentation to subtly build and release tension. It could remind someone of the change of seasons. Is this how you let the landscape inspire your music?
“When I make music it just comes naturally, I am not thinking about it. I think the melancholy and pace in my music is a part of me as well. I didn’t have any reflections on my music.”
How does living in the south of France affect your work?
“It’s like very quiet place with a lot of beautiful landscapes, there is the sea as well, so I’m sure it has influenced me a lot. But I always liked psychedelic music and spacey rock music as well. I used to live two years in Paris, but I didn’t like it. The south is a good place to work on music. It’s very quiet, a lot of old people, and there is nothing else to do but music.”
As I begin on the next question, there is a knock and the door squeals open. An unidentified industry guy has new information: the sound engineer is not going to make it to Sydney until 9.20pm. Too late.
He asks, “Did Julian give you the CD?”
Gonzalez shakes his head. “Such a pain in the ass, to do it that way.”
“I know, I know. But you can still do a 45 minute set, and it doesn’t void any contract.”
“The problem is I’ve got a lot of interviews to do today. But if we are going to play this way I need to spend all the afternoon doing it, working on it.”
The industry guy is apologetic. “The keyboards are at the venue, and they’re sound-checking from 2.30 til 3.30. I’ve already rung him. He’s going to have everything set up ready for you to go. So we need to cancel how many interviews?”
Gonzalez replies, “All of the interviews.”
“I’ll go and talk to Julian because the sooner we can go there the better.”
Industry guy shuts the door. Again Gonzalez shrugs, “Excuse me.”
So your drummer won’t be here until 9.20?
“No, it’s the sound engineer. All the musicians are here, they are sleeping right now. But he unfortunately has got all the hard drives with all of the sounds and we can’t do anything without this. So, we need to figure out something else.”
All of a sudden I feel bad. And lucky. I don’t know how many other reporters will have their way today.
The track ‘unrecorded’ from your second album Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts, was used in the trailer for the international release of the Russian film Night Watch. What is your connection with soundtracks, and film?
“My connection with cinema is very important, it is more important than music. One of my aims in the future is to work on a movie soundtrack. So yeah, like two years ago I start to work on a movie soundtrack with Eva Husson. She is a French director but she did her movie studies in the US and she really wanted me to work on her soundtrack. I think that my music can have a good connection with pictures and my music can bring to the pictures something quite emotional. So yeah, I would like to explore this connection.”
Your latest album, Saturdays = Youth, will be released April 12 on Mute Records. Have you achieved something different to the previous albums?
“I really try to make each record sound different, because I think its good to keep the project in a good cycle, to make it evolve always and all the time.”
What is different?
“The new one is really more pop. There are a lot of song structures, there are more of vocals. So the aim with this record was to have ten or eleven different songs, to have a very eclectic album.”
Is this why you choose two producers from different backgrounds? Ken Thomas is known for his Gothic and ‘80s background, working with Alien Sex Fiend, Psychic TV and Cocteau Twins, while Ewan Pearson has more modern electro experience, with The Rapture and Ladytron.
“I wanted two different producers, one very modern, and the other one more experienced with ‘80s music. The combination of the two is one of the keys of the record. I am really happy with the choice.”
How did you work with two producers? Were there arguments?
“It was easy because I first worked with Ewan Pearson in Berlin on the demos there so after all the crew was united in Wales for the recording. It was very fun actually and all the people were happy to be here to work on the same project – it was more like a family than work. It was great. The idea was to share ideas and it turned out to be really easy to work with these two producers.”
I’m not surprised. Through the drama, and the fatigue, it was easy to talk to Anthony Gonzalez of M83.
Look out for Saturdays = Youth in stores from April 12 on Mute Records.
