Youth, Recaptured

Gonzalez, also known as m83, to try to capture it in his music. m83 was formed in Antibes, France in 2001, but it was the 2008 release of m83's most recent album, Saturdays=Youth, that really caught the attention of the indie music scene. With producers such as Ken Thomas, who is known for his work with Sigur Ros, Ewan Pearson, who has worked with The Rapture and Ladytron, and Morgan Kibby of The Romanovs, the album was bound to garner some major success. While earlier albums had generated some success with an intense, rock sound, Gonzalez decided to do something softer and different from any previous records with his most recent album. His inspiration for the album was his teenage years, hoping to capture and celebrate the dazed and confused feeling of youth. As for the title of the album, Saturdays=Youth, Gonzalez explained that "Saturday is definitely the coolest day of the week for a teenager and that's the reason Saturday is in the title. Saturday always reminds everyone of their youth." Specifically, Gonzalaz wanted the record to sound like the music he had listened to as a teenager growing up in the '80s, taking inspiration from bands like Tears for Fears and The Cocteau Twins and classic John Hughes movies such as The Breakfast Club and Pretty In Pink.

With singles "Kim and Jessie" and "Graveyard Girl" off Saturdays=Youth, the music videos kept with the '80s youth theme of the album, but for their third single, "We Own The Sky", m83 turned to fans to create a video. Fans were encouraged to create and enter their own music videos for "We Own The Sky" and the winning choice would become the official music video for the song. After a long process, Young Replicant, a teenage director's label and design collective had submitted the winning video. According to the members of Young Replicant, their goal with this video was "to interpret the pure, emotional essence of We Own the Sky, and then communicate it through a simple story about young love, lens flares, and a confetti party." They set out to capture the beauty that lies between the daunting uncertainty and eternal optimism of youth, a theme they felt was prevalent in Saturday=Youth and one which resonated in their own lives.



MP3: "We Own The Sky" - m83