M83 announce new album inspired by 80s video game music

M83 – the project of Anthony Gonzalez – have announced a new album, ‘DSVII’. It arrives September 20 via Mute, but you can check out a preview and see its tracklist below.

‘DSVII’, which stands for ‘Digital Shades Vol. II’, is the sequel to ‘Digital Shades Vol. 1’. It comes three years after Gonzalez’s seventh studio album, ‘Junk’, and is mainly inspired by video game music.

“During the summer of 2017, I spent five months in Cap d’Antibes, France. I mainly spent my time swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, reading, watching films and playing 80s video games,” he wrote in a statement on his website. “It felt so refreshing to play all of these old-school games again. There is something so naive and touching about them. It’s simple and imperfect. And this is exactly what I tried to achieve with ‘Digital Shades Vol. 2’.”

‘DSVII’ was inspired by the soundtracks of The Legend of Zelda, Phantasy Star II, Solomon’s Key, Crystalis and other retro fare, Gonzalez revealed on his website. Other references for the album include the music of Mort Garson (including the recently reissued ‘Plantasia’ album), Brian Eno and Suzanne Ciani, as well as movies like Fantastic Planet, Phantasm and Gandahar.

‘DSVII’ is available for pre-order here. See the album art and listen to a snippet in the following Instagram post:

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When I work on a record, I have difficulty saying goodbye to some pieces of music that I think have potential but don’t necessarily fit the style of the album. This is how Digital Shades became an excuse to give a second life to some tracks instead of letting them disappear into the void. With DSVII, I wanted to come back with something stronger that featured the depth of a proper studio album without the pressure of providing pop music – faraway from Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming and Junk. *A Read more & pre-order at link in bio.

A post shared by Anthony Gonzalez (@m83music) on Jul 11, 2019 at 8:00am PDT

Gonzalez explained that he created ‘DSVII’ after a period of creative doldrums that set in after he dropped ‘Junk’. “I had a weird sensation that people didn’t fully understand the direction of the record,” he wrote. “Despite a very successful tour all over the world, I couldn’t stop thinking that the fans were disappointed with ‘Junk’. And a feeling of failure stayed with me for a very long time…”

After about a year working on music for the Cirque du Soleil’s Volta show, Gonzalez “felt empty; mentally and physically exhausted”. “I went back home to the south of France to rest and reflect on what would come next with one idea in mind: this time, I wanted to create for myself.”

The tracklist for ‘DVSII’:

1. ‘Hell Riders’
2. ‘A Bit of Sweetness’
3. ‘Goodbye Captain Lee’
4. ‘Colonies’
5. ‘Meet the Friends’
6. ‘Feelings’
7. ‘A Word of Wisdom’
8. ‘Lune de fiel’
9. ‘Jeux d’enfants’
10. ‘A Taste of the Dusk’
11. ‘Lunar Son’
12. ‘Oh Yes You’re There, Everyday’
13. ‘Mirage’
14. ‘Taifun Glory’
15. ‘Temple of Sorrow’