Antibes, France is a city of 72,000 on the Mediterranean Sea, approximately 12 miles from Nice. Antibes is most known for its heavy use of effects pedals, walls of sound and smooth whisper- soft vocals, and surprisingly not known for its beautiful beaches, palm trees, café terraces and citizens’ penchant for enjoying vin rouge avec baguette. It’s no wonder then that the rock/pop/electronica mixologist Anthony Gonzalez, more widely known as M83, resides in the sleepy southern city.

Gonzalez is currently on tour with his fifth studio album “Saturday=Youth,” playing at the Triple Rock Social Club tonight. His sound is similar to Sigur Rós: its slow builds use instrumental and electric guitar, with live drums backed by spacious synth pads.

To make his new album, “Saturdays = Youth,” he went to Ken Thomas, the producer known for his work with Sigur Rós, Depeche Mode and the Cocteau Twins. Thomas’ repertoire fits Gonzalez perfectly and gives the LP a lush, finely polished feel similar to the Scottish dream pop duo Cocteau Twins’ early ’90s work.

A&E chatted with Gonzalez over the phone about his first album (the self-titled “M83”), stolen gear, the new tour and cinema.

A&E: Who are the people on the cover of your new album?

AG: Teenagers – we did a street casting – they are all from New York. I just wanted to have a picture that looks like a poster from an ’80s movie.

A&E: What is it about the ’80s films that drew you to that?

AG: One of the biggest influences for the album was cinema. Cinema is even more important than music for me. Also, I’ve always been fascinated by teenagers, because my teenage years was one of the most beautiful periods of my life so far. This album is kind of a tribute to my teenage years and also to the teen movies from the ’80s like John Hughes. They are a big influence on me for this record – movies like “Breakfast Club,” “Pretty in Pink” or “Sixteen Candles”

A&E: When you were younger, what was the first instrument you purchased or got really excited about?

AG: I first learned guitar when I was 10 or 11. I remember it was a Fender Squire, not a real Fender, but I didn’t have enough money to buy a real one. I bought this electric guitar and I was listening a lot to heavy metal like Iron Maiden. When I was 14, I started to listen to German electronic music like Tangerine Dream. Because of that I started to buy keyboards. The first keyboard I bought was a Groovebox by Roland. Actually I didn’t buy it; I stole it from a music shop, and I was really proud. It’s kind of big, so it wasn’t so easy to do it.

A&E: How did you get away with it?

AG: It was in a big shop in the south of France. I went after school and there was nobody in the shop except for one girl; she was only working just for the weekend, and she was very kind to me. I went to the back and put the Groovebox in my bag and then said (on the way out), “OK, goodbye” and she said, “OK, goodbye, Anthony.” After that, they put cameras in the shop.

A&E: Did you use it to sequence your first album?

AG: Yeah, my very first album. I made everything with this Groovebox.

A&E: How did you get signed for your first album?

AG: I sent out five demos to Paris and Gooom asked me to sign a deal with them for three albums. At the time Gooom was a very independent electronic Parisian label. It was very exciting to feel that someone wanted me to make music for them.

A&E: Are there times when you get tired of performing or making music? What do you do if you’re on tour and you need to perform?

AG: When I don’t want to make music, I don’t make music. Sometimes I can be really lazy. If I really don’t want to work, it’s not a problem for me. Otherwise it’s too much sometimes.

A&E: When you are out on tour, what are some of the things that mean a lot to you?

AG: The best thing for me when you’re touring is the connection you have with people. Meeting different people every night is a fabulous thing. It’s incredible. I’m really lucky to be able to do that.