DSVII (short for Digital Shades Vol. II) is the eighth studio album by the French electronic music band M83, released on 20 September 2019 through Naïve and Mute Records. It is a sequel album to Digital Shades Vol. 1, released in 2007.
Background Anthony Gonzalez, member of the band, said that the album was inspired by playing 1980s video games while in Cap d'Antibes in France in 2017, calling the "old-school games" "naive and touching" as well as "simple and imperfect"; the musician also mentioned as an inspiration the soundtrack of the games, as well asscience fiction and fantasy films from the 1980s, and the synthesizer music of Suzanne Ciani, Mort Garson, Brian Eno and John Carpenter.
Recording Gonzalez recorded the album between 2017 and 2018 using only analog equipment, splitting sessions between both his Los Angeles studio and producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen's studio in Glendale, California. Band member Kaela Sinclair contributed vocals and arrangements.
Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album earned a score of 68, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Track listing
Personnel M83 Anthony Gonzalez – keyboard, synthesizer, guitar, bass guitar, vocals, producer, programming, arranging, mixing, drum machine, drum pads Joe Berry – piano, synthesizers, saxophones, flute, winds, pedal steel, accordion, co-production, string arrangements Kaela Sinclair – vocals, vocal arrangements
Additional musicians Justin Meldal-Johnsen – keyboard, synthesizer, guitar, production, programmer, arranging, mixing
Charts + Chart performance for DSVII Chart (2019) Peakposition
References