Overall Grade: A
Download Now: “Midnight City,” “Soon, My Friend,” “Steve McQueen” & “This Bright Flash”
Until October 18, it had been three years since M83, the French electro-pop act headed by Anthony Gonzalez, had released an album. After last week’s release of Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, the wait appears well worth it.
Last year, as Gonzalez was putting the finishing touches on the album, he promised fans and critics that it would be “very, very epic.” Count that, then, as a promise kept by the Frenchman. Hurry Up is, indeed, epic; for one, it is a double, 22-song, 74-minute-long album. However, this is easily M83’s most accessible album to date, and one that a listener will have no trouble listening to from start to finish countless times.
Perhaps most accountable for this is Gonzalez’s newfound vocal prowess. Whereas on previous records, like the superb Saturdays=Youth, he recruited external vocal talent or murmured his way through songs himself, Gonzalez, on Hurry Up really strains himself and just goes for broke; on the album’s opener, “Intro,” he sings alongside Zola Jesus’ Nika Danilova, renowned for her mind-blowing vocals, and admirably holds his own. No longer are Gonzalez’s voice and lyrics drowned in their massive surroundings, like on Saturdays=Youth. Now, they take center-stage and compliment the music.
By far, the best song on the album and evidence of the above points is “Midnight City.” Behind a synth-driven beat not unlike those featured in the best work of Depeche Mode and early New Order, Gonzalez is confident, bellowing out lyrics like “This city is my church!” with a readily imaginable swagger. Imminently danceable, “Midnight City” is best played at an extremely loud volume. Even when a saxophone pops up as the song reaches its final minute, one’s natural reaction is not to scoff or stop those feet from tapping but rather embrace Gonzalez’s daring and realize that the saxophone brings “Midnight City” to a thrilling climax. The song is such a triumph, in fact, that it could only be improved perhaps by the masterful touch of a Jamie xx or SBTRKT remix.
M83 \’Midnight City\’ Official video
As Hurry Up is a double album, it would be easy to discount the interludes and dismiss the shorter, somewhat indulgent tracks, à la “Fiddle About” and “Tommy Can You Hear Me?” from The Who’s Tommy; in the larger scheme of things, next to songs like “Pinball Wizard” and “Christmas,” these songs are throwaways. Yet Gonzalez avoids this pitfall, as the two-minute bursts that are “This Bright Flash” and “Klaus I Love You”, along with the multiple instrumental interludes featured, are among the album’s best and most enjoyable moments.
“Steve McQueen” is undoubtedly one of the album’s high points. Almost too good to describe, Pitchfork’s summation of the song is at once brilliant, hilarious, and spot-on.
“Point blank, it’s as close as most of us will get to being strapped inside a space shuttle, as midway through an almost unbearably tensile verse, you don’t hear drums so much as afterburners kicking in. By the chorus, it simply cannot go further up, and it explodes at the perfect moment into hair-metal guitar chords and synth-led skywriting.”
The song is nearly impossible to dislike, for as it ‘explodes’ one cannot help but want to raise a fist in the air and dance with a few thousand close friends in a packed theater.
Brilliant, ambitious, and at times breathtaking, M83’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is a near-perfect album and will surely be Gonzalez’s crowning achievement.
M83 will be playing Boston’s House of Blues on November 20th. Buy tickets here.
