Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Birds
2. Unrecorded
3. Run Into Flower
4. In Church
5. America
6. On a White Lake, Near a Green Mountain
7. Noise
8. Be Wild
9. Cyborg
10. 0078h
11. Gone
12. Beauties Can Die Bonus

Disc 2:

1. Birds
2. Unrecorded
3. In Church (Cyann & Ben Version)
4. Gone (Live)
5. Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
6. Run Into Flowers (Video)
7. America (Video)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5688 in Music
• Released on: 2004-07-27
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Enhanced

Amazon.com
Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts is the second album from French electronica duo M83 (Anthony Gonzalez and Nicolas Fromageau) who, thankfully, derive their name from a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Hydra and not from an interminably lackluster stretch of noxious British motorway. The name certainly nods to where their wide-eyed, spaced-out technicolor imaginations are fixed, but they also know how to sound ponderously intense--hence the cold, cello-aided sonority of "Gone," possibly the only track on the album that defies the lambent warmth of the purring analog synths and beguiling reveries that make the rest of the album as enticingly therapeutic as a thermal spa.

Humane post-rock is clearly M83's strongest attribute because both "Run into Flowers" and "On a White Lake, Near a Green Mountain" are curiously pretty cameos, far removed from the automatic anemia of other workmanlike button-pushers. The high point, though, is the symphonic sweetness and motherly female choral vocals of "Beauties Can Die," which is rather like being cradled in the arms of an angel, or at the very least the arms of Sigur Ros and Lesley Garrett. If one really has to die and go to heaven, one rather hopes the journey up there will sound like this. --Kevin Maidment

Customer Reviews

M83 step sideways - still succeed
Possibly taking their cue from fellow French Electronica act Deep Forest who too changed their approach on their 2002 "Music Detected" album, M83 exchanges drum machines and sequenced bass loops in favor of analog bass and drum on this their second album. The result from a performance aspect is a more grounded effort than their debut and is better suited to the raw rough intensity of the compositions. They do not shy away from their dark side. The album can be anxious, haunting and terrifying at times, while fragile and determined at others. While the end result is not as good as their debut, M83 delivers a hypnotic and bruising piece of work. It is the last studio album with Nicolas Fromageau, one of the founding members, who was dismissed after touring for this album was complete. Anthony Gonzales, now the sole member, decided to carry on with future projects by himself and with the assistance of studio musicians when necessary.

Highlights include: The sustained determination and almost ferociously reverent "Gone," the spellbinding swirl on "Run Into Flowers," the steady acid pound on "Unrecorded" and "Noise," and lastly, the light trip through Pop fluff and synth-ashes on "Beauties Can Die." I highly recommend finding the 2-disc enhanced edition. It includes a hidden track on Disc 1 that is inspiring. On Disc 2, "God Of Thunder" is one of the group's best - it blends Rave and Rock brilliantly. The title track on Disc 2 is a 17-minute work of ambience that takes one on a cosmic spiritual ride - well worth taking I must say. There are also 2 music videos for "Run Into Flowers" and "America" to be found on Disc 2.

"Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts," in summation, is a challenging piece of Electronica that hits more than it misses. While not the masterpiece that many have proclaimed it to be, it is a solid work. Here we see a band evolving at rapid speed, but its flaws cannot be overlooked. Too often the transitions from one song to another are abrupt and harsh. Too often the songs lack depth. As a fan, I had hoped they would take a step forward, but here they simply step sideways.

worst dream/ambient pop ive ever heard...
there's nothing pretty about any of these supposed shoegaze-esque cheeseball ballads. Sounds like jesus and marychain on a casio...go buy ulrich schnauss, at least he can write a melody instead of drone for an hour...kind of brings to mind metal-machine music, dont you think?

Wow!
M83 totally blows me away. It's really difficult to describe their music, but I'll take a stab it here. You might say that their music is "post-apocalyptic" - i.e. the kind of music one might expect to hear after the apocalypse, if that makes any sense. Many of their songs might be described as HUGE, with layer upon layer of really intense music. This is what I like to call headphone music. It's really not the kind of music to listen to casually in your car, but more like something you'd listen to while sitting on the floor in the dark or lying in bed wide awake at 3 AM. And it's not exactly easy music to listen to either. I've really never heard anything like this, and it demands your full attention if you really expect to "get it".