M83's Anthony Gonzalez is totally living the dream at this point, after ten years of building steam. 2011's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming was a breakout album for the French shoegazer, and last year M83 was playing to it's biggest crowds in North America, and Gonzalez and crew toured hard behind it. After a wave like this, it's customary for bands to bang out another album, and sometimes that works (U2, Zooropa) and other times it doesn't (U2, Rattle and Hum), M83 however got to hit an easy home run by doing the score for the new Tom Cruise sci-fi movie Oblivion.
In addition to enjoying a different set of expectations due to the fact that it's not a proper M83 album, Gonzalez has been building up to this his whole career, inserting distinctly cinematic interstitial bursts of emotionally resonant electronica in between the proper songs on every M83 album since 2003's Dead Cities. Working with score composer Joseph Trapanese (Tron: Legacy, The Bourne Legacy), Anthony Gonzalez collaborates on a score that cleanly meshes M83's emotion drenched electronica with the bombast and tension building that are part and parcel of a big digital futuristic sci-fi movie. Fans of Dead Cities and Before The Dawn Heals Us in particular will enjoy "Starwaves" and the evocative instrumental electronic soundscapes throughout Oblivion and for the film's climax, which is recognizably classic M83.
Where Gonzalez really succeeds is in his deeply resonant theme for the film, a distinctly M83-esque theme that he reprises for the film's denoement, and elevates to proper M83 grandeur for "Oblivion," the album closer and music for the end credits. Featuring Iceland's Susanne Sundfor, it's a vintage M83 epic that's simultaneously dreamy and yearning thanks to her potent and sweetly otherworldly vocals. After a year without new M83 music, "Oblivion" alone will easily hold me over until their next album.
Is the Oblivion soundtrack a must get for the casual listener as well as the M83 fan? Not at all, because a casual listener needs to get down with M83 first because M83's modest discography is an true embarrassment of riches to be enjoyed. Then Oblivion is a must get, because it's the widescreen culmination of ten years of work and a decent treat to hold us over until M83 comes back with the proper follow up to Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. Or you can download "Oblivion" so at the very least you'll have one of the songs of the year.
Grade: B
I watched it yesterday and the mystery unfolds only at the end. Beautiful visual effects ( I dont know if there is a 3D version to this film). The film is on similar lines to the Maxtrix Revolutions conceptually. Tom Cruise is brilliant, as usual.
Susanne Sundfør is from Norway...