For all the awe kindled by the effectively perfect sound in a transcendent highlight like "Kim & Jessie," the real triumph is that M83 uses such a setting for more simple melody and emotion than ever before.
As super-stylized as its sounds and emotions are, Saturdays=Youth always seems genuine, even when it feels like its songs are made from the memories of other songs.
Saturdays=Youth contains some of the band's best songs to date.
Though analog synthesizer remains definitional of the M83's sound, they open the arrangements to include more naturalistic instrumentation as well. The approach allows this band named for a galaxy to seem more grounded, and yet more universal, than ever before.
Saturdays = Youth finds itself in the higher echelons of '08 so far for radically different reasons, and, unpredictedly, it wouldn't be too surprising if M83's decision to avoid making a by-the-numbers album saw those overdue dividends finally reaching them.
Predictably there’s a slide towards more abstracted material toward the latter half, and parts of Saturdays=Youth are all hairspray and no body, but the whole thing sweeps along with such an irrepressible mix of youthful invincibility and flouncing fatalism it sucks the wind right out of your cheeks before you’ve had chance to huff.
Saturdays=Youth isn’t an unqualified success, and probably won’t be as warmly welcomed by fans as M83’s previous albums have been. Still, there are plenty of moments on the disc that remind you why this pulsing, layered music is so powerful.
To call Saturdays=Youth derivative is to pay it a compliment, because every retro synth sounds calibrated to provide the maximum nostalgic rush.
M83 needs to step out of the ’80s and back into the future.
Saturdays=Youth is embarrassingly earned.
Halfway through ... Gonzalez's self-indulgence gets the better of him and you're left with half-baked ideas and little else.
"Saturdays = Youth" is a slight stepdown from M83s previous material. Reasoning for that is because of some really bizarre choices in creativity that leads to a lot of the songs on here feeling like copy pastes of a bunch of other songs from the 80s. This does lead to some incredible songs tho, like "Kim & Jessie", "Graveyard Girl" & "We Own the Sky", all three of which are damn masterpieces. However, the rest of the songs on here are just ... read more
The dreamiest nostalgia
Yeah, this album really does feel like a nice nostalgic dream sequence, and that’s all I could ask for. I love the feeling of this album. The production is unreal. Kim & Jessie is SO GOOD like it just carries THAT feeling. Something about it genuinely feels like reliving your Pat and holding on to that memory. Beautiful. Too Late has an amazing piano melody. You Appearing has a godly build into the second track. We Own The Sky is just really good overall. Love ... read more
This is so close to a perfect record for me. Whether that be from the slow any hypnotic build of tracks like You Appearing or Too Late, to the synthgaze pop bangers like Kim & Jessie or Graveyard Girl that make me feel like I'm living in a Forza Horizon Pulse Playlist. This album has some of the best pop-oriented music M83 has ever put out, and some really great deep cuts as well. My only problem with this record is that for some reason I just absolutely cannot stand the track Up! I can't ... read more
I'm not as into this era of M83, but this is still a really solid album. My standout tracks are: "Skin of the Night," "We Own the Sky," "Dark Moves of Love," and "Graveyard Girl."
1 | You Appearing 3:39 | 84 |
2 | Kim & Jessie 5:22 | 91 |
3 | Skin of the Night 6:12 | 85 |
4 | Graveyard Girl 4:53 | 88 |
5 | Couleurs 8:36 | 80 |
6 | Up ! 4:27 | 78 |
7 | We Own the Sky 5:04 | 91 |
8 | Highway of Endless Dreams 4:35 | 80 |
9 | Too Late 4:59 | 85 |
10 | Dark Moves of Love 3:18 | 83 |
11 | Midnight Souls Still Remain 11:07 | 55 |
#1 | / | Drowned in Sound |
#2 | / | Treble |
#4 | / | No Ripcord |
#7 | / | Slant |
#8 | / | Pitchfork |
#20 | / | FACT Magazine |
#27 | / | MOJO |
#37 | / | PopMatters |
#45 | / | Paste |
#47 | / | Cokemachineglow |