As the Friday before Labor Day weekend arrives, summer’s grip is easing, even as the heat lingers on. That makes for a perfect moment to let a waterfall of hazy, blurred synths wash over you. It feels timely, then, that M83 — the retro-indie maximalist whose work is forever laced with evocative textures — has unveiled the first single from an upcoming record.
M83’s last proper album was 2023’s Fantasy. Last year, the project’s mastermind Anthony Gonzalez released two soundtrack albums, accompanying the documentary Dakur Chronicles and the science-fiction art film Resurrection, both under the M83 banner. Over the summer, he revealed plans to issue a new M83 album titled I Wrote You A Letter on his own Other Suns label. That collection is due in a few weeks, and Gonzalez has just released its first single.
In an Instagram post announcing I Wrote You A Letter, Gonzalez noted that he tracked it with collaborators Joe Berry, Clément Libes, and Benoit de Villeneuve. The opening piece “Blister Sunrise” predominantly channels classic M83, though with a handful of new touches in the mix. It’s a grand, cinematic mood piece—vast and a touch woozy, like waking up to walk on the surface of Jupiter. As the song unfolds, its intensity ramps up. I wasn’t expecting to hear a hint of screamo in an M83 track, but a trace of it threads its way through here. Check it out below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Blister Sunrise”
02 “Opera”
03 “Siren / Behold… Beasts”
04 “Aged”
05 “Losing Ground”
06 “Soldiers Of Lust”
07 “Heart Motion Foto”
08 “Feeding Time”
09 “Traces Of Love”
I Wrote You A Letter is out 9/25 on Other Suns. Pre-order it here.
