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I was trolling the web a few days ago for new music to listen to when I stumbled upon NEW MUSIC from M83 (how much do I love the band’s URL?), one of my top five favourite artists of all time.

In April 2005, when M83 (ie Anthony Gonzalez) came through Toronto in support of When The Dawn Heals Us, I immediately declared the show as my favourite of the year, despite eight months of 2005 still remaining. It didn’t change by December. The show was absolutely magical, breathtaking, inspiring, and any other adjective you can think of to describe a mind-blowing, clusterfk of an aural experience.

So yeah…this new piece of work. It’s songs that Anthony wrote and recorded without pressure, and that will be released as part of an ongoing series as part of his leisure, sandwiched between actual album releases. Digital Shades, Vol. 1 was recorded in 2006 and echoes some of M83’s earlier work that’s way more dreamy and ambient than some of his newer stuff. As expected, I’m totally in love with it…it’s got the usual instrumental, ambient tracks, plus a few with Anthony’s trademark breathy vocals and accented English pronounciation. Sister (Part 2) is beautiful in the vein of Safe from When The Dawn Heals Us. And By The Kiss is a four minute, mind-melding crescendo that pops like a supernova at the end.

In the meantime, Anthony’s back in the studio working on ANOTHER album that’s scheduled for release in January 2008. So enjoy this one (on import for now - released in the UK on September 4).

Sample a few tracks (including Sister Part 2) on his MySpace page.

Posted on Thursday, September 13th, 2007 at 11:47 am by Wendy and is filed under MuchRadar.

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