Adventure (Madeon album)

Adventure
Studio album by Madeon
Released	30 March 2015
Genre	Pop dance electronic electro house nu-disco French house
Length	41:12
Label	Columbia
Producer	Hugo Pierre Leclercq
Madeon chronology
The City (2012) Adventure (2015)
Singles from Adventure
"Imperium" Released: 17 October 2014 (2014-10-17) "You’re On (feat. Kyan)" Released: 8 December 2014 (2014-12-08) "Pay No Mind (feat. Passion Pit)" Released: 9 February 2015 (2015-02-09) "Home" Released: 10 March 2015 (2015-03-10) "Nonsense (feat. Mark Foster)" Released: 24 March 2015 (2015-03-24)
Deluxe cover

Adventure is the debut studio album by French electronic music producer Madeon. It was released on 30 March 2015.

The album comes in standard and deluxe versions and is currently available for digital download and also available in CD format. The standard version includes 12 tracks, featuring talent and vocals from Kyan, Dan Smith from Bastille, Passion Pit, Mark Foster from Foster the People and Aquilo. The deluxe version also includes previously released singles Icarus, Finale, The City, Cut the Kid, Technicolor and a bonus track in collaboration with Vancouver Sleep Clinic. The album will be supported by a new live show called Adventure Live, set to debut in April 2015.

Background

In May 2013, Leclercq stated in several interviews that he had begun working on his debut album with it being in a very early stage. At this time, the release was still expected to be in early 2014.^[1][2] He revealed his intention to release at least eleven new tracks in 2014 on his Tumblr account, further hinting a possible album release in 2014.^[3] In May 2014, he predicted a release date for the second half of 2014.^[4]

In early 2014, Leclercq took several months off touring "to focus on writing [his] album".^[5] Leclercq began creating "an Adventure sample pack and a collection of a few signature sounds to use throughout album [...] before writing more songs".^[6]

In June, Porter Robinson, a good friend of Leclercq,^[7] answered a question regarding Adventure in his Reddit Ask Me Anything as: "i've heard madeon's album and it's FUCKING magificent. i've been singing one of them all goddamn day" [sic].^[8] Leclercq later confirmed on Twitter that Robinson was referring to the third single "Pay No Mind".^[9]

Later in 2014, Leclercq gave out first details about the album. In July, he answered a question on Tumblr on how to describe his album as "start[ing] somewhere and tak[ing] you somewhere else. It goes from euphoric and pop to emotional and widescreen".^[10] In an interview, Leclercq revealed that the album will feature "not just club tracks [but] songs and music that touches [him. It] uses electronic elements, but goes beyond the DJ-role format", also suggesting a new show after the album.^[11]

In November, Leclercq promised new music, hinting the release of "You're On", and finished the official artworks for the album a few days later.^[12][13]

Leclercq announced the album name Adventure on 8 December 2014 after letting his fans guess the name on Twitter and the premier of the second single "You're On".^[14]

On 10 December, Leclercq revealed that he had just delivered the album to the label.^[15]

The official album announcement followed on 19 January 2015. It includes the release date of 30 March, the official track listing in standard and deluxe edition, both artworks and preorder links for all editions.^[16]

Madeon's press release states:

With Adventure, I wanted to capture the feeling and sensibility of my teenage years. I wanted the album to start very vibrant and pop and end with a more contemplative tone. In making the record I both collaborated in the studio with some of my favourite musicians, and wrote and performed vocals on songs myself, two things I hadn’t really done before with my own music. ^[17]

In February, Leclercq tweeted that he was working on his new live show Adventure Live.^[18] It began on 10 April 2015 in San Francisco, and is a 22-stop tour in North America.^[19] The show premiered in London on 31 March.^[20]

On 18 March 2015, the so called Adventure Machine was launched as a promotional tool. The web app allows anyone to mix selected stems from Adventure together using their phone, tablet, computer or Novation Launchpad. Madeon posted on Facebook, saying: "You can combine samples from my album and create new mash-ups/mixes. It's really easy and fun and all i've been doing for the past two hours basically."^[21]

On 24 March 2015, Adventure premiered on Spotify and iTunes for streaming.^[22] On the same day, Leclercq did a Reddit IAmA.^[23]

Graphics

The Madeon alphabet used for most cryptic messages.

Artwork

Like with his previous releases, Leclercq designed all artwork himself, trying to capture "escaping a city to reach the desert" in the single artwork.^[24] "You're On" as the second track of the album has a blue/ green artwork with a mountain in the center water in the foreground. The fifth track, "Pay No Mind", has a canyon with a setting sun shining through it. The seventh track "Imperium" centers a dune in a red desert. This progress displays the move into the desert. The album cover combines red desert and blue sky elements. The single artwork include the artist name Madeon, and track name written in the Madeon alphabet in the top right corner.

Music videos

A screenshot from Madeon's music video for "You're On". The centered person is Asteria. On the building in the back, a code written in the typical Madeon alphabet is visible (in addition to its translation).

This move from a "happy and colorful" to "a more contemplative place" visualized by "escaping a city to reach the desert" is also the main motive of the music videos for "You're On" and "Pay No Mind". Both are part of a trilogy of music videos, the third part is yet to come.

The first music video in the trilogy was for "You're On". The video follows a young female named Asteria through a futuristic city, where she is mesmerised by a tower in the distance, (the same tower which is seen on the album artwork of Adventure). There, she meets a young male named Icarus and together, they discover an object of some sort, embedded in the wall, and they activate it. The video ends with a "To Be Continued" message, written in the Madeon alphabet. Leclercq has a brief cameo performing live with Launchpads.^[25]

The second music video in the trilogy was released for the third single "Pay No Mind" on 20 February 2015. Continuing on from the music video for "You're On", the video follows Icarus and Asteria try to decode secret messages and find an escape from the futuristic city they live in. They successfully find an exit out of the city, and are last seen outside the walls, heading towards the tower in the distance. The music video for "Pay No Mind" was released on Leclercq's newly created Vevo channel.^[26]

The press release for the music videos states:

Set in a remote city, in an undefined future, Asteria is restless to see more of the outside world. She finds a friend in Icarus, who shared her desire of leaving.^[27]

Cryptic messages

Like with preceding music videos, the Adventure trilogy includes many cryptic messages written in the typical Madeon alphabet.^[28] This code together with hidden messages Leclercq included in preceding releases hasn't been publicly decoded yet, though several forums are trying to.^[29]

The ending of "Technicolor" includes a morse code stating "Icarus fell". The website to download Technicolor includes a morse code at the bottom of the page translating to "type it" (originally "- -.-- .--. . .. -"). When directly typing "Icarus fell", the top image of the website will change to "The secret is inside the Pixel Empire".

The transition from "Innocence" to "Pixel Empire" shows the Adventure diamond when seen in a spectrogram.

The Madeon diamond between "Innocence" and "Pixel Empire" seen in a spectrogram.

Singles

In September 2014, a new song by Leclercq called "Imperium" was released unofficially as the part of the soundtrack for the latest edition of the popular football video game franchise, FIFA 15. On 18 October, it was officially released as a free download through an interactive feature on his website, similarly to the release of Cut The Kid. Imperium is the lead single from Adventure.

On 8 December 2014, Leclercq released the second single titled "You're On" featuring singer Kyan. Leclercq described "You're On" as "a totally different vibe from Imperium. It's inspired by my love of pop music, cool chords and chopped up diva vocals."^[30] An official music video was released on 15 December 2014.^[31] It is the start of a story and will be continued with two more music videos.^[32][33]

On 18 January 2015, Leclercq first announced that the third single will be "Pay No Mind" featuring Passion Pit in a BBC Radio 1 interview by Alice Levine.^[34] On 3 February 2015, Leclercq tweeted the single artwork and the release date.^[35] Like with previous single "You're On", Leclercq posted a low quality preview of "Pay No Mind" on his Instagram.^[36] The single was premiered by Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 as the Hottest Record on 9 February 2015.^[37] Leclercq himself considers "Pay No Mind" "really good",^[38] also citing it as his favorite Passion Pit track when asked.^[39] The official music video was released on 20 February 2015.^[40] It continues the music video for "You're On" and is the second part of music video trilogy. Dancing Astronaut named "Pay No Mind" the number one top track of February 2015.^[41]

On 9 March 2015, the fourth single "Home" was premiered by Annie Mac's new BBC Radio 1 show.^[42] It is the final track from the Standard edition and the first track released in which Leclercq wrote and performed vocals himself.^[43] The Fader named "Home" "The Best Electro-Pop Anthem You'll Hear All Day".^[44] Leclercq described the process behind the track as "I have this thing I do about once a year. I lock myself in the studio for 24 hours and make two or three new songs from start to finish. By the 18th hour, the combination of sleep deprivation, creative frustration and isolation put me in this weird vulnerable state. I kind of felt like giving up on music at the time to be honest, so I made a song about that. Because I was alone in the studio and had a microphone, I ended up recording it myself and finished producing it in the few hours remaining. I dont see myself as a singer but I thought it would be weird to have anyone else do the song so I kept it the same as the demo on the album."^[45]

On 24 March 2015, a day after Adventure premiered on Spotify for streaming, "Nonsense" featuring Mark Foster from Foster the People was released as the fifth single.

Track listing

Notes

• All songs produced, arranged, mixed and mastered by Hugo Leclercq.
• "You're On" features additional vocals from Yolanda Quartey, backing vocals from Jimmy Napes and additional programming and vocal prodution by Hal Ritson and Richard Adlam.^[48]
• "OK" features additional vocals from Charli XCX^[49] and Ed Drewett.
• "Pay No Mind" features guitars from Sam Halliday.^[50]
• "Beings", "Zephyr" and "Home" feature vocals from Hugo Leclercq.^[51][52]
• "Pixel Empire" contains a sample from "Sync" from the album "FEZ OST" by Disasterpeace^[53] and features guitars from Paul Pinto.
• "The City" features vocals from Zak Waters and Cass Lowe.^[54]
• "Technicolor" features guitars from Phil Schwan.^[55]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Sputnikmusic	[56]
Digital Spy	[57]
Pitchfork Media	7.8/10[58]
We Got This Covered	[59]

The album has been positively received by critics, with them saying that the record straddles both dance and pop music. Sputnikmusic stated that while many debut albums by other dance music artists received poor recognition, Madeon has made a solid effort. While criticizing a little on the lyrics, Sputnikmusic said that "All of these songs [in the album] have the potential of breaking into the EDM stratosphere and becoming a hit... This is certainly an album that needs to be in your upcoming summer playlist."^[56] Digital Spy declared that Madeon managed to put his own style of music into the album. Digital Spy further stated that "...it's his steely determination to not compromise his art that will serve him best in the long run - and it's that boldness that makes his debut album the strongest of starts to his Adventure."^[57] Pitchfork meanwhile said that Adventure is "a strikingly versatile collection." and further stated that "Adventure" provides Madeon with many different ways for him to choose from for his future music.^[58] EDM Chicago meanwhile remarked that "Adventure is proven to be a catalyst for both pop and dance fans alike... it serves an emotional and meaningful purpose that hands-down has propelled it into being definitively one of the best produced records this year."^[58] In a five-star review, We Got This Covered said that the album is "...One which is filled with good vibes, catchy pop sounds, and a lasting state of euphoria."^[59] The Fader's author Larry Fitzmaurice commented that the album is an "...expansive, impossibly beautiful landscape that evokes sounds from electronic music's past and present...all coalescing into one of the most radiant pop albums in recent memory."^[60]

Charts

Release history

External links

• Adventure Machine

References