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M83’s latest equals mediocre staging

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by Alex Garens

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

French electronic band M83, named after a distant galaxy, has built itself quite a reputation on its bizarre, genre-defying sound, perhaps best demonstrated in their 2003 release Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts. However, their latest, Saturdays =Youth does not reach such transcendental heights, landing far short of stellar.

As per the shoegaze genre, M83 had previously relied very little on vocals, overpowering them with the electronic reverbs when they were softly uttered as an enhancement. Their newest, however, puts vocals to the forefront in an attempt to focus on more traditional song structure — an odd turn for a band whose entire sound had previously been entirely untraditional.

This heightened emphasis on vocals wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if it were executed well. Unfortunately, much of the singing is shrill, repetitive and emotionally empty, as in “You, Appearing,” “Up!” or “Skin of the Night.”

Another odd development for M83 is the heavy ’80s influence infiltrating nearly every track on Saturdays. Granted, it’s almost impossible not to like ’80s music, but that rule only applies to music actually from that decade. When the sound is an imitated throwback it’s simply obnoxiously unoriginal. People have an affinity to bad ’80s pop precisely because it’s a nostalgic, quaint relic of the past, not because it’s comparatively good by modern standards. Releasing a CD that sounds like a slightly updated soundtrack to “The Breakfast Club” is just a bad joke.

It’s really hard to tell what M83 was trying to do on this album. Aside from the lifeless, whimsical electronic loops overpowered by vocals probably meant to sound ethereal and the unoriginal ’80s synth-pop, the few remaining songs sound vaguely like M83’s eccentric roots.

As such, “Couleurs” is probably the only song actually worth listening to. Despite being typically shoegaze in sound, “Graveyard Girl” would have been a success as well, since they actually tamed the vocals, if it weren’t for the most laughably angst-ridden, interspersed spoken lyrics imaginable: “I wonder if they’ll miss me/ I won’t miss them/ The cemetery is my home,” yadda yadda yadda. And it only gets worse.

Perhaps the most insulting track is the last, which is merely 11 minutes of nearly silent, soothing “ethereal” noise. It’s not hard to imagine how little thought went into this one. As if the rest of the album weren’t lacking enough in energy, they end it with a lullaby loop.

Overall, Saturdays is a jumbled hit-or-miss album with more misses than hits. The various genres may appeal to many, but unfortunately none of them really deliver anything worth listening to. While some songs are just unplayable, most tracks are so-so — neither horrible nor noteworthy, and they might find their way to some background music playlists. But there’s certainly no shortage of much more innovative, distinct background music out there.

Subtract their typically energized, or at least interesting ambient electronic melodies, add plodding, uninspired loops, lame ’80s synth and overbearing vocals, and Saturdays=Youth does not equal a very impressive CD.

2 1/2 stars out of 5

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John Kane (April 15, 2008 @ 11:56am):

This reviewer got it all wrong. I mean, yeah, it's all a matter of taste. But Alex really misses the spirit of this M83 work.

I can understand not liking the work. But Alex doesn't even do a decent job of presenting both sides of the strengths of this album to balance out its weaknesses.

It is a completely different direction from M83's previous work. The reviewer got that much right. It's closer to a straight-up pop album. And the not so subtle references to "Breakfast Club" on the album actually enhance the feeling of nostalgia. It isn't a downside at all.

It's a great album. Buy it at B-Side.

John Kane (April 15, 2008 @ 12:03pm):

I forgot to include the link to Pitchfork's review of the new album. They liked it quite a bit and have included it in their "Best New Music" section: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/49915-saturdaysyouth

Anonymous (April 17, 2008 @ 9:16am):

The reviewer's reaction is sort of like the backlash Dylan got when he went electric. Got help us all, audible vocals? That's not shoegaze!

Why are people so eager to keep artists inside their categories, and so offended when they dare to step out of the categories someone else assigned to them?

IMHO Saturdays=Youth is brilliant, though I have to admit it has a bit of filler. They could have cut out 4 or 5 of the tracks and saved them for b-sides, if such a thing even exists.

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