M83
Dead Cities, Red Seas, & Lost Ghosts

(Mute)

First Appeared in The Music Box, August 2004, Volume 11, #8

Written by John Metzger

Titled after a spiral galaxy that happens to be one of the Milky Way’s closest cosmic neighbors, M83 couldn’t have picked a better name for itself. After all, the music featured on its astral-traveling, North American debut Dead Cites, Red Seas, & Lost Ghosts unfurls in a similarly powerful fashion, twisting and turning as it fills the universe’s great expanses with lush waves of sound that pulsate, permeate, and penetrate the body, mind, and soul — particularly when played at a deliriously high volume. Utilizing an array of now-ancient synthesizers and drum machines, the French duo of Nicolas Fromageau and Anthony Gonzalez conjures a space-age ambience that ties together the compositions of Jean-Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno, and Air in a manner that weaves a breathtakingly surreal tapestry of swirling colors and hallucinogenic visions. Throughout the disc, the ensemble plays with a variety of textures and dynamics, folding one track into the next with the utmost precision of a well-paced, progressive rock band. Although it lacks the organic edge of the finer efforts geared toward the shoe-gazer scene, Dead Cities, Red Seas, & Lost Ghosts succeeds simply because of the shear force and radiant beauty of M83’s colossal ruminations. ½

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Ratings

1 Star:   Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!

Copyright © 2004 The Music Box