California is a state of mind, and Madeon‘s move to Los Angeles has soaked into his sound. The French producer is back with “All My Friends,” an unabashedly pop sing-along with a walking disco groove and all manner of shimmery, summery sonics. The song was written, produced, composed and recorded all by his lonesome, and he sings on the song as well. It’s his first original release since his Porter Robinson collaboration “Shelter,” not counting his “evil” remix of that song.
“It feels like I just came home from a giant trip, a vacation somewhere,” he’s quoted in a press release. “I haven’t communicated pretty much in any way since ‘Shelter.’ I just saved up my story for the past three years. And I’m gonna tell it now.”
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Madeon made his name as a crafty mash-up artist when he was just a 17-year-old music geek from Paris. The success of viral sensation “Pop Culture” launched him to international fame, and he kept himself grounded when it came to his debut album Adventure.
“I very purposefully stayed with my parents when I made Adventure, because I wanted to capture my life as a teenager in France,” Madeon says. “Listening back, it’s a good reminder that it always works out best when you’re sincere. I wasn’t pandering, I was just really trying to make what I loved.”
Adventure was released in 2015, and in the years that followed, Madeon explored the globe. “Shelter” came in 2016, and since then, he’s stayed reltively silent. He made the move to Los Angeles last year, seeking creative ressurection.
“I knew if I wanted to make something different, I needed to change my life around,” he says. “I wanted to wake up in the morning and feel like every second of my life was about Madeon. My walls are covered with concept art and logo designs and instruments and references and records that I love. It’s all I do from the minute I wake up to the minute I go to bed.”
Interestingly, he wrote “All My Friends” during a three-day studio session in New York City.
“I remember I was walking alone, and the sun was a particular shade,” he says. “It struck me all at once, vividly. It was like a flavor: sounds and sights and smells. I felt impossibly confident and enthusiastic, and the song became like a premonition of what I had to do … It’s fun to do a song that’s so blatantly, sincerely pop. I love to make that kind of music mostly on my own — you’re not really supposed to be able to make it that way.”
“All My Friends” is light, airy and slighty psychedelic. It’s out now on Columbia Records. Listen to it below.