Adventure (Madeon album)

Adventure is the debut studio album by French DJ and record producer Madeon. It was released on 30 March 2015 through popcultur and Columbia Records. The album features talent and vocals from Kyan, Dan Smith from Bastille, Passion Pit, Mark Foster from Foster the People and Aquilo and was produced entirely by Madeon himself.

Adventure
Studio album by
Madeon
Released30 March 2015
Recorded2014–15
Genre
Length41:12
Label
ProducerHugo Pierre Leclercq
Madeon chronology
The City
(2012)		 Adventure
(2015)		 Good Faith
(2019)
Deluxe edition cover
Singles from Adventure
  1. "Imperium"
    Released: 17 October 2014
  2. "You're On"
    Released: 8 December 2014
  3. "Pay No Mind"
    Released: 9 February 2015
  4. "Home"
    Released: 10 March 2015
  5. "Nonsense"
    Released: 24 March 2015

The album was promoted by five singles: "Imperium", "You're On", "Pay No Mind", "Home" and "Nonsense", while the deluxe also includes "Icarus", "Finale", "The City", "Cut the Kid", "Technicolor" and a bonus track in collaboration with Vancouver Sleep Clinic. The album received positive reviews from critics.

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, 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's name, Adventure, on 8 December 2014 and premiered of the second single "You're On".[14]

The official album announcement followed on 19 January 2015, which included a release date of 30 March, the official track listing in standard and deluxe edition, both artworks and pre-order links for all editions.[15]

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.[16]

In February, Leclercq tweeted that he was working on his new live show Adventure Live.[17] The show began on 10 April 2015 in San Francisco, and is a 22-stop tour in North America.[18] The show premiered in London on 31 March.[19]

On 18 March 2015, the Adventure Machine[20] 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, stating, "You can combine samples from my album and create new mash-ups/mixes."[21] The app was nominated for a Webby Award.[22]

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

Packaging
The Madeon alphabet used for most cryptic messages.

Like his previous releases, Leclercq designed all artwork himself, with the depiction of "escaping a city to reach the desert" in each single's artwork.[25] The album cover consists of a red desert and blue sky. The single artwork includes the artist name Madeon, and track name written in the 'Madeon alphabet' in the top right corner.

Promotion

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).

According to a press release, the premise of the music videos is as 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.[26]

"You're On" is the first video in a music video trilogy. The video follows a young woman, Asteria, through a futuristic city. She meets a young man named Icarus and together, they activate an object embedded in a wall. The video ends with a "To Be Continued" message, written in the Madeon alphabet. Leclercq has a brief cameo performing live with Launchpads.[27] The second music video in the trilogy was released for the third single "Pay No Mind" on 20 February 2015. The video follows Icarus and Asteria as they decode secret messages and find an escape from the futuristic city. 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.[28] The finale of the trilogy, set to "Nonsense" follows Icarus and Asteria on a long journey through the desert to a tower reminiscent of that on the album artwork of Adventure. As they open the doors to the tower, the Madeon logo forms.

Similar to preceding music videos, the Adventure trilogy includes many cryptic messages written in the typical Madeon alphabet.[29] This code together with hidden messages in preceding releases has not been publicly decoded yet, though several forums are trying to.[30] 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.

Singles

In September 2014, a new song by Leclercq called "Imperium" was released unofficially as the part of the soundtrack of the video game, FIFA 15. On 18 October 2014, the lead single was officially released as a free download through an interactive puzzle on his website, similar to the release of "Cut the Kid."

On 8 December 2014, Leclercq released the second single titled "You're On" featuring singer Kyan. Leclercq claimed "You're On" was "inspired by my love of pop music, cool chords and chopped up diva vocals."[31] An official music video was released on 15 December 2014, as the first of a music video trilogy.[32][33][34] The song was featured in Konami game, Pro Evolution Soccer 2016.[35]

On 18 January 2015, Leclercq announced the third single as "Pay No Mind" featuring Passion Pit in a BBC Radio 1 interview by Alice Levine.[36] On 3 February 2015, Leclercq tweeted the single artwork and the release date.[37] Like with previous single "You're On", Leclercq posted a low quality preview of "Pay No Mind" on his Instagram.[38] The single was premiered by Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 as the Hottest Record on 9 February 2015.[39] The official music video was released on 20 February 2015 as the second part of the music video trilogy.[40]

On 9 March 2015, the fourth single "Home" was premiered by Annie Mac's new BBC Radio 1 show.[41] It is the final track from the standard edition and the first track released in which Leclercq wrote and performed vocals himself.[42] The Fader described "Home" as "a pulsing surge of anthemic electro-pop".[43] Leclercq described the process behind the track:

"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."[44]

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.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Sputnikmusic[45]
Digital Spy[46]
Pitchfork7.8/10[47]
We Got This Covered[48]

Adventure received positive reviews. 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."[45] 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."[46] 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. 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."[49] 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."[48] 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."[50]

Track listing
Standard edition[51]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Isometric" (intro)Hugo Pierre Leclercq1:20
2."You're On" (featuring Kyan)
3:12
3."OK"
3:01
4."La Lune" (featuring Dan Smith)
3:39
5."Pay No Mind" (featuring Passion Pit)
4:09
6."Beings"Leclercq3:35
7."Imperium"Leclercq3:18
8."Zephyr"Leclercq3:40
9."Nonsense" (featuring Mark Foster)
3:35
10."Innocence" (featuring Aquilo)
3:44
11."Pixel Empire"Leclercq4:04
12."Home"Leclercq3:45
Total length:41:12
Deluxe edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."Icarus"Leclercq3:34
14."Finale" (featuring Nicholas Petricca)
  • Leclercq
  • Nicholas Petricca
3:24
15."The City"
3:53
16."Cut the Kid"Leclercq3:17
17."Technicolor"Leclercq6:25
18."Only Way Out" (featuring Vancouver Sleep Clinic)
  • Leclercq
  • Tim Bettinson
3:46
Total length:1:05:32
Notes

Charts
Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[61] 31
Australian Dance Albums (ARIA)[62] 5
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[63] 169
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[64] 118
French Albums (SNEP)[65] 29
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[66] 35
UK Albums (OCC)[67] 30
UK Dance Albums (OCC)[68] 4
US Billboard 200[69] 43
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[70] 1

Release history
Region Date Format(s) Edition(s) Label
Europe[71] 27 March 2015
  • Standard
  • deluxe
Oceania
UK[72] 30 March 2015
US 31 March 2015
Canada
Latin America
Japan[73]

References
  1. "Madeon Triple J Interview". YouTube. 25 May 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  2. "Madeon MTV News UK Interview". YouTube. 10 June 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  3. "Madeon Tumblr - "About how many songs do you think of releasing this year? (: -- At least eleven."". Tumblr. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  4. "Madeon Tumblr - "Are you going to release your new album soon or later within the year? -- Second half of the year"". Tumblr. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  5. "Madeon Facebook - "I decided to stop touring for a few months to focus on writing my album"". 5 January 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  6. "Madeon Reddit - "I set aside a few weeks to create an Adventure sample pack..."". Reddit. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  7. "Madeon Facebook - "(...) the biggest help was my friend Porter Robinson (...)"". Facebook. 21 May 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  8. "Porter Robinson's Reddit AMA - "i've heard madeon's album and it's FUCKING magificent. i've been singing one of them all goddamn day"". Reddit. 10 June 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  9. "Madeon Twitter - "I think it was Pay No Mind ft. Passion Pit (next single)"". Twitter. 25 January 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  10. "Madeon Tumblr - "How would you describe your new upcomming [sic] album? -- It starts somewhere and takes you somewhere else. It goes from euphoric and pop to emotional and widescreen."". Tumblr. 29 July 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  11. "Madeon SW4 interview at 1:06 - "it's not just club tracks"". Soundcloud. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  12. "Madeon Twitter - "Oh btw, new music this month :)"". Twitter. 7 November 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  13. "Madeon Twitter - "Spending today finishing the album artwork !"". Twitter. 11 November 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  14. "Madeon Twitter - "Madeon - Adventure (Album - 2015)"". Twitter. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  15. "Madeon Facebook - "My debut album " Adventure " is coming out March 30th. It's available to pre-order now (...)"". Facebook. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  16. "Press release text". Popjustice. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  17. "Madeon Twitter - "Working on Adventure Live. Two months to go !"". Twitter. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  18. "Madeon Facebook - "I'm going on tour with my new live show in North America !"". Facebook. 11 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  19. "Madeon Twitter - "LONDON ! I'll be premiering my new live show at Oval Space on the 31st of March "". Twitter. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
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  28. "Madeon teams up with Passion Pit for futuristic music video". 23 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  29. "Cryptic messages in the You're On video". Tumblr. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  30. "Technicolor Scavenger Hunt (Spoilers)". 3 August 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
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  33. "Madeon Twitter - "It's multi part and tells a story."". Twitter. 12 December 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
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  35. "PES 2016 Soundtrack Revealed". GameSpot.
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  54. "Madeon about Charli XCX - "She's on 'Adventure', but secretly."". MTV. 11 February 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  55. "Madeon Twitter - "Also credits to @SamTDCC for the awesome guitar playing on Pay No Mind!"". 5 February 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  56. "Madeon Twitter - "do you also sing on Beings and Zephyr?! - yes"". Twitter. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  57. "Madeon Twitter - "I ended up recording it myself"". Twitter. 9 March 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  58. "Madeon Reddit - "I licensed a small sample from the FEZ OST in the track Pixel Empire"". Reddit. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  59. "The City credits". Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  60. "Technicolor credits". Retrieved 15 February 2015.
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  62. "ARIA Dance – Week Commencing 6th April 2015" (PDF). ARIA Charts (1310): 17. 6 April 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
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  65. "Lescharts.com – Madeon – Adventure". Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  66. "Top of the Shops - アルバムの公式リストは、日本で数週間を販売しました" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
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