M83 (formed 2001)
M83 are an ambient French Electronic five piece band led by Anthony Gonzalez. Characterised by dream-like synthesized reverb effects, the group are best known for their highly popular song Midnight City released as the lead single of their sixth studio album 'Hurry Up, We're Dreaming' back in 2011. The track peaked at number 8 in France, topping the digital French chart as it was used as the closing theme after UEFA Euro 2012 football matches on French Network TF1, and also rose to fame in the UK after its use as the theme song to reality TV show Made in Chelsea and as music for BBC's coverage of the 2012 Olympic Games.
Formation: In 2001 M83 was formed as a duo including Nicolas Fromageau in Antibes, France, but the two separated soon after touring their second album. Now based in Los Angeles, Gonzalez changed M83 to more of a musical project, and often recruits his brother Yann, vocalist and keyboardist Morgan Kibby and drummer Loïc Maurin to create new music and perform live alongside him. 2011 saw the arrival of new member nineteen-year old Jordan Lawlor to the band as a multi-instrumentalist. Jordan had won the audition to join M83 after Gonzalez had posted an open audition on the website earlier that year.
Musical Career: After becoming interested in music while in high school, Gonzalez formed a band with Fromageau. Gonzalez later bought a synth and did some work independently before sending out demos that appealed to record label Gooom Records. 2001's self-titled debut album didn't receive international acclaim until 2005 when it was reissued by Mute Records. M83's second record 'Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts' was launched in spring 2003 and was significantly more popular than M83's debut. Following their third studio album release in January 2005 entitled 'Before the Dawn Heals Us', M83 remixed a series of tracks including 'The Pioneers' by Bloc Party, Placebo's 'Protège-Moi' and Goldfrapp's 'Black Cherry'. In 2006 Gonzalez wrote a series of ambient tracks entitled 'Digital Shades Vol.1' which came out in September of that year.
After the release of 'Saturdays = Youth', M83's fifth studio album, in April 2008, M83 had changed. Under the influence of new members Ken Thomas (worked with Sigur Ros), Ewan Pearson (produced for Tracey Thorn) and organ Kibby (of the Romanovs), the sound of M83 had become more structured and centred on the 1980s, as Gonzalez states: "[it was] also a tribute to my teenage years because the main theme of the album is being a teenager". After supporting acts on tour such as Kings of Leon and The Killers, M83 performed at the Fuji Rock Festival in 2009. 2011 saw the release of Gonzalez's first double album 'Hurry Up We're Dreaming'. He commented on the record, "It's mainly about dreams, how everyone is different, how you dream differently when you're a kid, a teenager, or an adult."
M83 has also written and composed many if not all the songs for several soundtracks over the years, such as French director Gilles Marchand's 2010 film Black Heaven, Joseph Kosinski's 2013 film Oblivion as well as 2014's Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars.
Biography by Contactmusic.com
Songs From The Shipyards is the group's third release within a year, and was initially a soundtrack to a film documenting their local North East England's shipbuilding industry history. Andrew Lockwood took this one on, and found a band in the form of their life seven albums into their career: "The album, as you might expect, is full of character and love" he wrote. "The songs are performed with great care and attention and each note stirs the emotions as it recounts a slice of Shipbuilding history. Regardless of whether you have seen the accompanying film this set of songs works wonderfully well and once again shows what a prodigious and prolific talent 
