Tag: M83

The Killers – Shot At The Night

The Killers have gone and done electropop.

Tim: The obligatory new single from the upcoming Direct Hits singles collection, this is produced by M83.

Tom: Ooh, now that’s exciting. That’s a combination I hadn’t thought of.

Tim: Now I’ve told you that, you’ll hit play and about thirteen seconds later think “oh, yeah”.

Tim: So, The Killers have gone and done electropop, and they’ve made quite a decent job of it.

Tom: M83’s influence is obvious, although it’s not quite the full-on explosion of electropop that they’re known for before. It’s a much calmer track than I expected.

Tim: Yes – outside the chorus, it has to be said there’s not a lot going on, aside from a gradually increasing level of anticipation for what’s coming inside the chorus. Because that chorus is fantastic. It makes the song, though that does come with with a sense of disappointment: if the verses matched up to, this could have been one of the songs of the year.

Tom: I still reckon there could be more, even there – M83 are known for producing such massive tracks that even the chorus was a touch disappointing to me.

Tim: You think? Either way, this could be better, and “America’s biggest rock band changes direction and absolutely smashes it” has a nice ring to it; “…and does a manageable job” doesn’t so much. But still, for me, what a chorus.

M83 – Steve McQueen

Wall-of-sound stuff.

Tom: We’ve talked about M83 before, and described them as going “Full Total Eclipse of the Heart”. Technically, their genre is synthpop, but it’s more than that: it’s wall-of-sound stuff.

Tom: I fully expect this track to get used in innumerable adverts and movie trailers. It’s astonishing.

Tim: Couldn’t possibly disagree there, because it is.

Tom: The thing is, it’s even got the traditional structure, sort of. 3 minutes 49 seconds, middle eight, one final return to the chorus, slow ending. But there’s just so much going on, so many layers, that it’s difficult to keep track of.

Tim: You’re right there – I’d not really noticed that, because it’s hard to keep track of a verse/chorus when it’s primarily instrumental. The vocals that are there seem to come across as purely decorative.

Tom: Is it danceable? Probably not. Is it poppy? Well, more than others, but not enough to storm the charts. Is it good? Oh, hell yes.

Tim: Hell yes.

Saturday Flashback: M83 – Midnight City

“It’s light on lyrics, which is fine by me.”

Tim: This is a song. I found it on my list of ‘future Saturday Flashbacks’ with no notes as to why it was there. Then I listened to it and I realised why.

Tim: Because it’s great. They’re a French band who’ve been going for a while, and this, their only hit to date, just about got to the UK Top 40 last July. It’s light on lyrics, which is fine by me because the bits that do have lyrics are frankly a bit dull, and heavy on creepy children, which is, well, something.

Tom: You’re right about the lyric parts being a bit dull, but the rest of the track really does make up for it. They went full Total Eclipse of the Heart at the end there, didn’t they?

Tim: Part of me momentarily thought that the video was going to end with a group-suicide with the whole holding hands and looking glum on top of a building, but fortunately they didn’t because that would have put a downer on the whole saxophone affair, which is otherwise slightly unexpected but rather fitting.

Tom: It’s a rare track these days that ends with a saxophone solo; it’s a rarer one that works that well.

Tim: And yet this is one. But if you don’t want it to end, and you’ve not had your fill of creepy children, feel free to view the follow-up to this, Reunion. Music’s still very listenable, but you won’t be paying attention to that.