Rock and Roll Website

My review of M83′s great new album “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming” for Beatroute Alberta

Dreams are an ever-popular subject for music. Following your dreams and meeting the girl of your dreams come up frequently enough to almost necessitate a subgenre. The sixth album from French act, M83, explores dreams, but with a scope and subject manner unique to the genre. From the outset, journalists and music fans hungry to compartmentalize have categorized M83 as dream pop. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, however, transcends arbitrary labels, defying easy categorization.

Regardless of this tragic genre abuse, M83 is set to release a double album about dreams. Conceptually and sonically, the album is a roller coaster that mimics a fitful night of dream-filled sleep, a night in which a few hours of sleep could feel like days and weeks. Comparable to dreams that blend into one another, the double LP flows together in a natural way through highs and lows, from start to finish.

Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is a sonic assault of reverberation, ambience and cinematic soundscapes disguised as pop songs. This is French musician Anthony Gonzalez’s – the mastermind behind M83 – densest collection of music to date, two albums of expertly crafted electronic music seeping with melancholic brilliance. M83 are a rare electronic band in that they can be moody and introspective without sounding thematically dark in comparison to other musicians.

Early on the album, “Raconte Moi Une Histoire” begins with a jaunty and lighthearted synth line that accompanies a cute story about psychedelic toads, which eventually builds to a fever pitch of layered parts and Gonzalez’s unintelligible reverberated vocal chanting. The song ends abruptly and is joined to the delightfully ’80s sounding track, “Claudia Lewis,” defined by a brief sound collage of subway noise and spaced out synthesizer arpeggios. The pop sensibility of tracks like “Claudia Lewis” are reminiscent of 2008’s “Saturday = Youth,” in that the songwriting is very accessible without sounding corny or dumbed down.

Only halfway into this behemoth of an album, we have run through all the best parts of any previous M83 albums: you have the upbeat pop songs, intense rockers and reflective soundscapes, all contributing to a sonically pleasing package. The use of short interludes, spoken word lyrics and a strong loud/quiet contrast presents the album as a narrative and through cryptic lyric and song title choices, M83 engages listeners to look deeper and perhaps draw conclusions about the concept unfolding in their ears.

M83 is amongst the foremost electronic musicians from France. This is no small feat considering big names like Daft Punk, Air, Sebastien Tellier and Phoenix all call France home. Six albums into M83’s career and the listeners are treated to a new album that feels like a best of collection. Capitalizing on strengths from previous work and pushing creativity to the edges of what may be considered excessive, this new double album is a real treat for the ears and one of my favourite albums of the year. For longtime fans of M83, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming may very well become their flagship album. For new fans who may not have the attention span for 22 tracks across two CDs, standout tracks like “Midnight City,” “Claudia Lewis” and “OK Pal” will draw you in and sweep you away in the dense wash of dreamy synthesizers, fuzzed out guitar and ethereal vocals that M83 does so well.

I’ll be posting more writing I’ve done over the past few months since the blog has been dormant. Expect jokes, music and even a podcast in the future.

This post is considered to be a showcase of Jaron James’ work as a writer and not meant to offend the copyright of any publication. If you would like to contact me about this post for any reason (including employment) please email me at jjwhittingham@gmail.com