2001–2005: First recordings , the band's namesake. At 17, Gonzalez bought a synth to record a demo, which he sent to a number of French labels. When Paris-based
Gooom Records seemed interested, he recruited Nicolas Fromageau to "help me because I didn't feel like I had the shoulders to carry the project on my own". They decided to name their band M83, after the
galaxy of that name. After worldwide touring for
Dead Cities resumed, Fromageau left the band; he later formed the band
Team Ghost in 2009. Gonzalez returned to the studio to record the group's third studio album,
Before the Dawn Heals Us, released in January 2005. In 2016, the song "Lower Your Eyelids to Die with the Sun" was featured in the trailer for the film
A Monster Calls starring Felicity Jones and Sigourney Weaver. Later in 2005, M83 provided a remix of "The Pioneers" by
Bloc Party, which was also included on Bloc Party's remix album
Silent Alarm Remixed. M83 also remixed
Placebo's "
Protège-Moi",
Goldfrapp's "
Black Cherry",
Depeche Mode's "
Suffer Well",
Van She's "Kelly", and
The Bumblebeez's "Vila Attack". Similarly, M83's songs have been remixed by Gooom labelmates
Montag and
Cyann & Ben. === 2006–2009:
Digital Shades Vol. 1 and
Saturdays = Youth === In 2006, after the
Before the Dawn Heals Us US tour, Anthony Gonzalez continued to explore a musical direction already heard on earlier M83 tracks and began writing and recording a collection of ambient works. The album was recorded primarily at his home studio with the assistance of Antoine Gaillet. The resulting project was called
Digital Shades Vol. 1, and was released in September 2007 with a sleeve illustrated by Laurent Fetis (known for his work with
DJ Hell,
Beck, and
Tahiti 80). It is intended to be part of an ongoing series of ambient works.
Saturdays = Youth, M83's fifth studio album, was released in April 2008. It was recorded with Ken Thomas (known for his work with
Sigur Rós,
The Sugarcubes,
Boys in a Band,
Cocteau Twins, and
Suede),
Ewan Pearson (who has also produced for
Tracey Thorn,
The Rapture and
Ladytron) and
Morgan Kibby (of
The Romanovs). The album features a more focused approach to song structure and form, and Gonzalez stated that the main influence of the album came from music of the 1980s: "I think that '80s music is such a brilliant period for music history. It was the occasion for me to do a tribute to this '80s music, but [it was] also a tribute to my teenage years because the main theme of the album is being a teenager, and being a teenager means a lot to me." Four singles were released from the album: "Couleurs" in February 2008, "
Graveyard Girl" in April, "
Kim & Jessie" in July, and "We Own the Sky" in December.
Redbull and Snowboarder
Travis Rice used "We Own the Sky" as the opening song in the 2008 snowboard film ''That's It That's All''. M83 also appeared on a limited edition split 7-inch single with
Maps in 2008; M83 remixed Maps' "To the Sky", while Maps provided a remix of M83's "We Own the Sky". In December 2008, M83 supported
Kings of Leon on its UK tour. In January and February 2009, M83 supported
The Killers across United States tour dates and toured with
Depeche Mode on its
Tour of the Universe in Italy, Germany, and France. In July, M83 appeared at the
Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. In July 2009, M83 appeared at the Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio. Gonzalez, unprovoked, physically assaulted an elderly security guard when Gonzalez attempted to have members of the crowd join him on an unreinforced stage platform. The band later apologized to its fans for the incident. In 2010, on the eve of turning 30, Gonzalez moved to Los Angeles.
2010–2015: ''Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, Oblivion'' and commercial success In Spring 2010, M83 composed the score of French director Gilles Marchand's film
Black Heaven. On 5 July 2010, the
Black Heaven Soundtrack was released, which included two new songs by M83 called "Black Hole" and "Marion's Theme", along with five tracks from his back catalog. The soundtrack also includes songs from the score by Emmanuel D'Orlando, Moon Dailly and John & Jehn. However, his feelings towards the record were largely negative, leaving him depressed. In 2011, Gonzalez started working on a new batch of songs for an album slated for release later in the year. He described the tracks as darker and "very, very, very epic". Speaking with
Spin, he said of the new album "It's a double album. It's mainly about dreams, how every one is different, how you dream differently when you're a kid, a teenager, or an adult. I'm really proud of it. If you're doing a very long album, all the songs need to be different and I think I've done that with this one." He recorded again with Morgan Kibby as well as others, including
Medicine's mastermind
Brad Laner,
Nine Inch Nails bassist
Justin Meldal-Johnsen and
Zola Jesus. On 19 July 2011, the breakthrough single "
Midnight City", Beginning in October, they toured North America and Europe to promote the album;
Active Child supported the US leg of the tour. The album placed 3rd in
Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2011 list; the single "Midnight City" was placed 1st on the Top 100 Tracks list. On 26 January 2012, M83 came in at number 5 on the Triple J Hottest 100 with the single "Midnight City". The track received further exposure in 2013 as the remixed soundtrack to the Gucci Premier fragrance television advert featuring
Blake Lively. It was also used in the 2013 film
Warm Bodies. On 28 June 2012, it was announced that M83 would compose the soundtrack for the 2013 movie
Oblivion, directed by
Joseph Kosinski and starring
Tom Cruise. The score was co-written with
Joseph Trapanese. The soundtrack album was released on 9 April 2013 by Back Lot Music featuring
Susanne Sundfor on vocals. On 26 February 2014, a new song titled "I Need You" was included on the
Divergent soundtrack. The song "Wait" was featured in the 2014 film
The Fault in our Stars. It was also featured in the "Perception" episode of
Revenge in 2012, "The Backup Dan" episode of
Gossip Girl in 2012, "Imperfect Circles" episode of
Under the Dome in 2013 and "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" episode of
The Vampire Diaries in 2014. More recently, "Wait" was used as part of the documentary "The Day We Walked On The Moon" commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing and screened in the UK by ITV in July 2019 and in the same year, in a feature film titled
Five Feet Apart. Also from ''Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
, two tracks, "Another Wave from You" and "Outro", featured in the 2014 remake of The Gambler. In 2015 and 2016, British-Franco-Canadian drama Versailles, uses "Outro" as the theme title. "Outro" was also featured in the popular snowboarding documentary The Art of Flight, in the reveal trailer for the games "Paragon" and "Kerbal Space Program 2", in a Mazda commercial entitled "Feel Alive" in 2018, and as the final song in the finale of both the USA Networks TV show Mr. Robot and Fox TV show Enlisted''. Moonchild was featured in Top Gear's McLaren Mercedes SLR Oslo challenge. The Italian-French film
Suburra from 2015 features music by M83 extensively. In August 2014, the first three albums produced by the band were re-released by Mute Records with additional material available separately for download. Gonzalez justified the reissues by noting that physical copies of the albums were hard to find and sold for "a ridiculous amount of money". He also participated in
Jean-Michel Jarre's album
Electronica 1: The Time Machine.
2016–present: Junk, Volta, Tour, DSVII, and Fantasy On 1 March 2016, M83's seventh studio album
Junk was announced along with its lead single, "
Do It, Try It". The album was released on 8 April 2016. The band then embarked on a tour across North America and Europe during the first half of 2016. On 5 December 2016, it was announced that Gonzalez of M83 would be the composer and musical director for
Cirque du Soleil's touring show,
Volta. In July 2019, Gonzalez announced M83's eighth studio album,
DSVII (standing for
Digital Shades, Vol. II). It was released on 20 September 2019. In December 2021, Gonzalez announced a re-release of ''Hurry Up We're Dreaming
for its 10th anniversary. On 10 January 2023, M83 released the single "Oceans Niagara", and released their ninth studio album, Fantasy'', on 17 March 2023. A tour of North America in support of the album followed. On 16 April 2025, Anthony Gonzalez announced the release of the new M83 soundtrack album
A Necessary Escape for the film
Dakar Chronicles, a documentary directed by the French actor and screenwriter
Jalil Lespert. == Style ==