Inspired by the city lights of Downton L.A, the song’s lyrics reflect the singers encapsulation and sense of awe at the neon-imbued landscape past dark – an ode to city living.
At the cultural turn of period where such sonic ambiguity and blurring of sub-genres was fairly atypical, French electronic band M83 helped set the tone for the crossovers between pop and electronic genre bending. Steady, building instrumentation that eventually goes into flames, a wordless chorus made up of layered vocal samples, a tsunami of synths over the top of underlying melancholic lyrics, topped off with a 60+ second saxophone solo – it’s nothing short of euphoria.
Metaphorically, the music embodies that electric and ethereal-like experience of driving through a city at midnight, something akin to a kind of spiritual gratification – a feeling that demands to be felt both internally and externally. This track, in all its ubiquity, uniquely captures the very individual feeling of the relationship between a soul and their exterior surroundings. An explosion of auditory colour that renders this track timeless.
You can learn more about m83 here.
About The Curator - Jeanna Colhoun
Having previously graduated from The University of Liverpool with a BA (Hons) in Music, Jeanna is currently a student working towards her MSc in Marketing. Originally from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, her time spent in Liverpool – a city known for its rich musical heritage and thriving music scene – has enabled her to flourish among a community of fellow music lovers and network with other young creatives. Presently, Jeanna is exploring the exciting career opportunities within marketing of music and the arts, and hopes to secure a graduate job later this year.