As the brains behind French electro-pop outfit M83, Anthony Gonzalez rarely played by radio rules, allowing for lush, textured and thoughtful songs that easily surpassed the four-minute mark.

The result of those experiments made albums such as 2005's Before the Dawn Heals Us critically acclaimed yet still somewhat under the popular radar.

However, Gonzalez says that he wanted "pop songs" for the band's new album Saturday=Youth, even if it wasn't something that came naturally to him.

"I'm not really good at it actually," Gonzalez says down the line from Paris. "I'm just learning to do pop songs, I don't know if you really can learn these kinds of things. I just wanted to try something else because my previous albums were very cinematic and melancholic. I wanted this one to be less serious and more teenage, more innocent."

M83, opening for The Killers on their North American tour, which hits Toronto's Air Canada Centre tonight, have tightened the material on their new album, judging by the singles Kim & Jessie and Graveyard Girl, both oozing an '80s synth-pop feel.

Part of that retro sound comes from Gonzalez's love for the era and in particular film director John Hughes, known for films such as Pretty In Pink, Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club.

"The John Hughes movies from the '80s, they've been a big influence for this album," he says. "John Hughes is one of my favourite directors from the '80s."

Saturday=Youth contains pop nuggets such as Graveyard Girl with its catchy chorus and Too Late, the latter being Gonzalez's personal favourite.

However, another '80s pop band was the inspiration for the song Kim & Jessie.

NOT JUST TRIBUTE TO TEARS

"It was actually a track from Tears For Fears called Head Over Heels," Gonzalez says. "I think it's from the album called Songs From the Big Chair. I just tried to make it sound really personal as well, not only a tribute to the Tears For Fears track."

While Gonzalez has worked with a handful of producers on previous albums, he joined forces with Ken Thomas (Suede, Sigur Ros) and Ewan Pearson on Saturday=Youth. He says working with both was a great learning curve.

"I never really worked with famous producers before so it was a new thing for me," he says. "It was a wonderful experience because I love to do music alone and I love to compose music alone in my studio. But in the meantime I love to share my music with other people in terms of the recording process. They really bring something really interesting to the album. It was really teamwork and we got along really well with each other."

M83 opened for Kings Of Leon last month in Europe and are pleased to be supporting The Killers on this North American trek. But Gonzalez says being the opening act does have some drawbacks.

"The energy is definitely not the same when you're playing as a supporting band," he says. "They just want to hear the band."

M83 plans to tour until the end of summer, but already Gonzalez is thinking about the next record.

"I don't really have the time to work on it properly because I'm touring a lot," he says. "But I've got plenty of ideas for the next one and just can't wait to start working on it."