M83 + School of Seven Bells @ Cabaret Du Musee

By Christine Lariviere - The Lonesome Strangers - 11/19/2008

The backdrop of the stage at Cabaret Juste Pour Rire was draped with a 10-foot long graphic of a boy wearing a skeleton shirt, the bottom of the poster bearing the word “M83.”  The stage itself was lit with electric blue lights emanating from over-elaborate, futuristic looking equipment.  There was a synthesizer, a Mac laptop, guitars, and drums, which were quartered off by transparent sheets of plastic.  The entire setup looked as though the crowd, mainly clustered by the front of the stage, was in for an intense laser light show, along with a musical performance. 

While there were no streaks of light darting about the venue, the music itself seemed at times to resemble the tones one would hear when watching a Star Wars lightsaber battle.  Actually, more like several lightsaber battles occurring simultaneously (the thought warms my geeky heart).  Such is the style of M83’s music, an eclectic mix of low lyrics, with loud, climbing layers of electronic instrumentals. M83’s forte is arguably their ability to layer music, and increase tempo in such a way that it builds towards an anticipated, climactic moment.  These moments in songs such as, “Moonchild,” “Highway of Endless Dreams” and opener “Run Into Flowers” often inspired the audience to burst into dance.       

M83 played additional crowd favorites including “Kim & Jessie,” a hit off their latest album, Saturdays = Youth, released in April of this year, and “Don’t Save Us From the Flames,” a song about a car crash, which was ironically used in a Pontiac commercial. 

When the show was coming to a close, M83 founder Anthony Gonzalez graciously thanked the crowd and played an encore.  The group, formed in France almost eight years ago by Gonzalez and former member Nicholas Fromageau, now includes several new members, contributing skills on the drums, vocals, guitar and synth.        

Brooklyn-based School of Seven Bells, a three-member band formed in 2006, opened the show. Consisting of two guitarists and one keyboardist, School of Seven Bells played songs off their recently released, first full-length album Alpinisms.  Their music is similar to M83 because of the use of layered, reverb-drenched instrumentals, but with a much more low-key vibe.