M83 announce video game inspired album ‘DSVII’

M83 are no strangers to pushing boundaries when it comes to delivering new music. M83 front man Anthony Gonzalez has recently produced an album of digital delights, inspired by 80’s video games, retro synth music and surreal fantasy movies titled ‘DSVII‘. This album came about when Gonzalez was taking some time off in France in the summer of 2017. Anthony says the following on the M83 website:

“At first there was this vivid memory of Dungeons and Dragons, this childhood sensation of living in an imaginary world set in a faraway past or a lost future. I wanted to create some music that could be part of this adventure and journey with all of its solitary knights, dreamy landscapes, strange animals, forgotten myths and old spells.”

The album was intended to be a sequel to Digital Shades Vol. 1, which was released in 2007. Whilst the Digital Shades project was supposed to harbour non album releases and B-sides, DSVII has been given the full attention it deserves with a full album release. DSVII takes from video games such as The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy and other retro video games as listed on the M83 website.

Anthony writes the following on the website:

“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. The inspiration behind this record is mainly video game music. 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…. We recorded everything with vintage equipment in my studio and at Justin Meldal-Johnsen’s studio in Glendale, California during final production which took place from the fall of 2017 to the spring of 2018.”

Gonzalez shared a clip of the album on the M83 website and the official tracklist on an Instagram post which you can check out below. You can read more about Gonzalez’s influences on the M83 website and lookout for the album dropping on 20th September.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzx9xusBSIJ/