These days, Anthony Gonzalez is feeling wistful for his own back catalog. His 2023 LP Fantasy was pitched as a sequel to 2005’s Before the Dawn Heals Us, so based on that calculus—and all but confirmed by the piano refrain that closes “Blister Sunrise”—I Wrote You a Letter is the spiritual successor to 2008’s Saturdays=Youth. It’s also relatively subdued for an M83 record. After the verbose Fantasy, Gonzalez is again content to let his big sounds handle the big feelings: dueling choirs and saxophones on “Siren Behold… Beasts,” a string quartet on “Soldiers of Lust,” and, of course, every synth patch under this sun and probably several fictional ones, too.
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Jules Reidy: Clerestory [Thrill Jockey]
Like any great tale, there are two sides to guitar whisperer Jules Reidy’s new album Clerestory. The A-side, called “Shadow Symmetric,” pairs the Australian-born, Berlin-based with JACK Quartet, a dextrous NYC-based string ensemble they worked with for over two years on the composition. The B-side, “Clerestory Windows,” compiles four slivered songs that reinvent their predecessor through an array of new instruments: vocals, 12-string guitar, electric guitar, RMI, and MIDI strings. In the hands of a less inventive stylist, this back section might sound fractured, or even worse, overworked. But taken together, the two halves of Clerestory couldn’t feel more full. This is a yarn worth spinning over and over again.
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Bullion: Nearly [Ghostly]
