I've missed M83 every time they've come through town, which is a shame because I'm quite fond of much of their older work and am completely head over heels in John Hughes musical montage teenage love with their most recent album, Saturdays=Youth. Still, though, I'd heard mixed reviews of their live shows, so I was going into their show at Neumos last night with both high expectations and just a bit of worry. If I was worried, though, I seemed to be alone in the sold out crowd; as Anthony Gonzalez took the stage alone and began the set by holding down one sustained, slowly unfurling synth chord, the audience let loose with cheers—possibly the first time I've ever heard cheers for such a soft synth pad.

Still, I could see what people might complain about regarding the live show: the band is pretty damn introverted (in the classical sense of the word shoegaze). Frontman Anthony Gonzalez spent much of the show at 90 degrees to the audience commanding a cluster of synths, and he rarely took to the mic between songs except for the occasional soft-spoken gratitude. Someone at the show tells me you could see him chewing gum during most of the set. The biggest stage presences by far were the super-tight drummer, who played behind a glass partition presumably so the band could perfect the mix and just nailed every fill and double-time hi-hat, and keyboardist/vocalist Morgan Kibby. The first vocals I heard in the set seemed to be playing pre-recorded, from a laptop perched above Gonzalez's synths, and for a second I wondered if all their vocals were going to be delivered in this disembodied manner, if maybe that's what everyone had been complaining about. Thankfully, though, when the band launched into the aching, swooning hit "Kim & Jessie" (after three very mellow, mostly instrumental opening tracks), Gonzalez and crew took to their mics and started singing.

From there, though, they pretty much had me. "Kim & Jessie" is just an unbearably airy pop song, unfuckwithable, catchy as hell, and they followed it up with the two next best songs on Saturdays=Youth, "We Own the Sky," which they played with a little added arpeggiated outro, and "Graveyard Girl," whose hopeless romantic vibes had couples kissing in the corners. They closed with—I think—"You, Appearing" and encored with a fairly rocking, clubby rendition of "Couleurs" (another great one from Saturdays), after which the applauded and bowed like they were playing a classical concert rather than a rock show. I noticed at the merch booth a sign that said something about "buy a cd, get a pass to meet the band at an autograph session directly after the show," which struck me as a little silly and presumptuous, until I noticed the mooney expressions on the faces of the girls in the front row, one of whom leapt onstage between the set and the encore to snag a set-list. I didn't stick around, but I image Gonzalez signed at least a few autographs last night. And, you know what? Good for M83—they totally deserve all the rapturous fans they can get.

Due to a bad tip re: set times, I missed most of School of Seven Bells' set, but what I did see confirmed the cold feeling that I've gotten from their album Alpinisms. SVIIB just strikes me as a band with a great sound but without really great songs. Clearly, these are talented musicians with good gear and good ears and a taste for the gentler, glossier side of shoegaze (they sounded, generously, like a more restrained My Bloody Valentine with more upfront female vocals), but I couldn't really hum you one of their choruses if I tried. I'm as much of a sound design geek as anyone, but at the end of the day, I'll almost always take the catchy song with the shitty production (cf. punk rock) to the pristine production without the hooks. Even a lot of minimal techno doesn't get a pass from me if it cant muster a good melody to throw over the monotonous thump. Of course, I could never quite get excited for the Secret Machines, either.