With a massive tour schedule already mapped out, it was only a matter of time before M83 officially announced their long-awaited follow-up to 2011’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. Today, mastermind Anthony Gonzalez confirmed the new album’s title and release date: Junk will arrive on April 8th release through Mute Records. He’s also shared the lead single and opening track, “Do It, Try It”.
Junk reunites Gonzalez’s Grammy-nominated synthpop band with Dreaming producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen. The album does not, however, feature longtime keyboards/backup vocalist Morgan Kibby, who left the band prior to recording sessions. Gonzalez is actually crowdsourcing her replacement for the upcoming tour supporting Junk, holding auditions for all would-be musicians.
Even without Kibby, Junk promises a slew of “unexpected guests,” according to Gonzalez. Among them: Beck and Susanne Sundfør.
Gonzalez has said that the new album takes inspiration from TV shows of yore “like Punky Brewster and Who’s the Boss. I feel like TV shows are starting to sound and look the same. There’s no more passion anymore. So this album is a tribute to those old-fashioned shows.”
As for the title, Gonzalez said in a statement, “Anything we create today is going to end up being space junk at one point anyway, and I find it really fascinating and scary at the same time – beautiful too in a way. I have this image of pieces of humanity floating in space, lost forever. It also means that nowadays everything goes so fast and everybody is kind of throwing away art in a certain manner. People will listen to an album for instance and just pick a track they like to put on a playlist. They’re not going to take the time to listen to an album anymore because they have to jump on the next thing.”
Listen to “Do It, Try It” below. The album’s artwork and tracklist follows.
Update — March 4th, 3:32 p.m. CT: After holding open auditions, M83 have finally selected Kaela Sinclair to replace vocalist Morgan Kibby on their upcoming tour. “It was really difficult to choose a new singer for the band but when I saw @kaelasinclair it was obvious she would be perfect!” Gonzalez tweeted this afternoon.
Junk Artwork:
Junk Tracklist:
01. Do It, Try It
02. Go!
03. Walkway Blues
04. Bibi the Dog
05. Moon Crystal
06. For the Kids
07. Solitude
08. The Wizard
09. Laser Gun
10. Road Blaster
11. Tension
12. Atlantique Sud
13. Time Wind
14. Ludivine
15. Sunday Night 1987
Find M83’s full (as in, complete and stuffed) tour schedule below.
M83 2016 Tour Dates:
04/06 – New Orleans, LA @ The Civic Theatre *
04/08 – Dallas, TX @ Bomb Factory *
04/09 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall *
04/10 – Austin, TX @ Stubbs Waller Creek Amphitheater *
04/12 – Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre *
04/13 – Phoenix, AZ @ Comerica Theatre *^
04/15 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
04/16 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl *
04/17 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater *
04/19 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater *
04/22 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
04/23 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst Club *
04/25 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater *
04/26 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater *
04/27 – Missoula, MT @ The Wilma *
04/29 – Edmonton, AB @ Winspear Centre
04/30 – Calgary, AB @ Grey Eagle Event Centre
05/04 – Hong Kong, CN @ Kitec Star Hall
05/07 – Kuala Lumpur, MY @ KL Live
05/19 – Sentosa, SG @ Hard Rock Coliseum
05/21 – Jakarta, ID @ Lapangan D – Senayan
05/24 – Seoul, KR @ Centennial Memorial Samsung Hall
05/26 – Tokyo, JP @ Studio Coast
05/28 – Quincy, WA @ Sasquatch! Music Festival
05/30 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Great Saltair
05/31 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
06/01 – Kansas City, MO @ The Midland
06/04 – New York, NY @ Governors Ball Music Festival
06/06 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
06/07 – Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s
06/08 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
06/09 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music Festival
06/11 – Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater
06/12 – Richmond, VA @ The National
06/14 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore
06/15 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
06/16 – Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion #
06/18 – Dover, DE @ Firefly Music Festival
06/24-26 – Paris, FR @ Solidays Festival
06/28 – Istanbul, TR @ Zorlu Center
06/30 – Gdynia, PL @ Open’er Festival
07/01-03 – Marmande, FR @ Garorock Festival
07/01-03 – Belfort, FR @ Les Eurockeenes
07/07 – Bilbao, ES @ BBK Live Festival
07/09 – Lisbon, PT @ NOS Alive! Festival
07/14-17 – Ostrava, CZ @ Colours of Ostrava Festival
07/15 – Gräfenhainchen, DE @ Melt! Festival
07/23 – Oro-Medonte, ON @ WayHome Music & Arts Festival
07/24 – Detroit, MI @ MoPop Festival
07/29-31 – Montreal, QC @ Osheaga Music Festival
08/10 – Oslo, NO @ Øya Festival
08/11 – Gothenburg, SE @ Way Out West Festival
08/13 – Helsinki, FI @ Flow Festival
08/15 – Budapest, HU @ Sziget Festival
08/19-21 – Biddinghuizen, NL @ Lowlands Festival
08/24-27 – Zurich, CH @ Zurich Openair
08/25-28 – Charleville-Mezieres, FR @ Le Cabaret Vert
* = w/ YACHT
^ = w/ BØRNS
# = w/ Tame Impala
