M83 9/25/26

M83- I Wrote You A Letter (Album).

I Wrote You a Letter is M83’s tenth album and Anthony Gonzalez’s first full-length since Fantasy in 2023. Gonzalez has said it reflects a few years of feeling disillusioned with the world, and that he wanted something less calculated and more spontaneous this time. He made it with Benoît de Villeneuve, Joe Berry, and Clément Libes, and put it out on his own label, Other Suns. It’s nine tracks and about 40 minutes, and it’s mostly instrumental. If you’re expecting a stack of big synth-pop choruses, you’ll be surprised. The title comes from the idea that a letter is slower and more deliberate than the way we talk now, and the album plays like that.

“Blister Sunrise” opens the album and was the lead single. It starts with waves of synths that keep climbing, with distortion piling on until it hits that huge, sweeping M83 scale, only rougher, closer to shoegaze. There are floating, melodic vocals you can’t quite make out, a whisper of something that sounds like screaming deep in the mix, and a quiet, raw piano at the end. It sounds like waking up somewhere vast and a little dazed.

“Opera” is nearly seven minutes and comes in two parts. The first is a gripping crescendo of synths and ethereal voices, and the second is an ambient coda with a church-like organ and angelic choirs. It’s the most patient thing on the record, and it earns its length.

“Siren / Behold… Beasts” is the strangest and most adventurous song here. There’s a free-jazz meditation with saxophone, and the first half sounds like a war zone, full of explosions and cries. It reads like a song about violence and about beautiful things that destroy. It’s not an easy listen, but it’s a memorable one.

“Aged” is over six minutes, and the first minute sounds like a CD skipping before the glitches fall away. Then a distant, reverb-soaked piano takes over, with a sweet, romantic melody that feels almost neoclassical. By the end, two pianos drift in and out of sync, like a haunted music hall. It’s gorgeous, but it’s also the point where the album asks the most patience.

“Losing Ground” is built on a keyboard line that paces up and down like someone walking a hallway, with synths filling the space around it. Flutes and horns pile on top, and there are some interesting polyrhythms underneath. It starts out as the soundtrack to a calm sunrise and ends with oscillations so intense it feels like a rocket launch. It’s one of the strongest moments on the record.

“Soldiers of Lust” is barely over two minutes and totally unlike its title. It’s a delicate chamber piece driven by piano, with violin and viola, and it’s the most organic-sounding track on the album. It works as a breather between the big ones.

“Heart Motion Foto” is under three minutes and is the first song with a real, hummable vocal melody, even if the words are hard to make out. It brings back the glowing, dream-pop side of M83 for a moment, and it’s probably the most immediately accessible song here.

“Feeding Time” runs almost six minutes and is the most hopeful, upbeat-feeling song on the album. It’s got a lot of the old indie-electronic spirit, a soaring, out-of-time kind of feeling, and plenty of critics call it the best song on the record.

“Traces of Love” closes the album in about two and a half minutes. It’s quiet, pretty, and a bit unresolved, so it doesn’t feel like an ending so much as a letter trailing off.

Overall, this is a pretty, carefully made record, but it’s a hard one to come back to. It plays more like a collection of moods than a journey, and with so little vocal or melodic hook to hold onto, a lot of it floats right past you. A few critics felt it lacks the drama and punch of Gonzalez’s best work, and that’s how it landed for me too. The standouts, like “Blister Sunrise,” “Losing Ground,” and “Feeding Time,” are worth a listen on their own, but as a whole it’s more background atmosphere than something you’ll return to.

Verdict: One and Done

Personal Favorites: “Blister Sunrise,” “Feeding Time,” and “Losing Ground”