Dreams are a fascinating phenomenon. The way our brains piece together brand new worlds from our memories, the way our moods and thoughts affect them, the way they almost always completely disappear from our minds in the morning -- it's a mind-boggling part of human nature. Whether your dreams are fantastical or terrifying, certain ones tend to stick with you throughout your life. It isn't too much of a stretch to say that Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, the newest upcoming record from French dream pop titans M83, is an album that has the potential to stick with you for a very long time too, and it just so happens to be about dreaming.
M83, the brainchild of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Anthony Gonzalez, has gone through a number of phases as a band, from the shoegaze-y ambience of Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts to the 80s pop-influenced Saturdays = Youth. Hurry Up is a interesting synthesis of the two styles; though most of the full-length songs are glorious pieces of 80s-style pop, there are also a number of ambient interludes. Some may be put off by the fact that Hurry Up is a double album, and while the album clocks in at 70 minutes, it is remarkably consistent throughout. The pacing of the record is pretty much perfect, with the catchiest long-form pieces spread out nicely throughout.
Good pacing doesn't mean anything without great songs, and Hurry Up has more than it's fair share of those. (I'm going to apologize for the lack of Youtube links in advance, since the album isn't scheduled to be released until October 18, only one track can be found on Youtube.) After the choir-laden, stage-setting "Intro," the listener is thrust right into first single "Midnight City," a triumphant piece of synthpop which makes possibly the best use of a saxophone in a non-jazz song ever. Standouts on the front side include the gorgeous ballad "Wait" and the funky "Claudia Lewis," as well as the irresistably cute "Raconte Une-Moi Histoire," which I'll speak more on later.
After an introspective middle section, the record kicks back up with the unstoppable duo of "New Map" and "OK Pal." If you aren't singing along to these tunes after a couple of listens you have no soul. Standout interlude piece "Another Wave From You" leads the listener into "Splendor," a beautiful piano-led ballad. "Year One, One UFO" builds from a simple guitar progression into a heavily-layered wall of vocals and multiple guitar lines, while "Steve McQueen" offers one last burst of 80s pop before the record closes with a trio of short bombastic tunes. The record ends abruptly on "Outro," an interesting feature which seems to mirror the experience of suddenly waking up in the middle of a dream. It could also mean I have a bad copy of the record, but we'll see.
One of my favorite things about the record, besides its sonic diversity and incredible consistency, is its whimiscality. The album is about dreams after all, and it seems as though Gonzalez explores every facet of dreaming through the music and lyrics. In his dreams, he is able to explore new worlds, see old friends, and get the girl he couldn't in the real world. He even recalls the dreams he had as a child in the aforementioned "Raconte Une-Moi Histoire," which features narration by a small child, describing a magical frog which changes people into peace-loving frogs themselves. It's the little things which make Hurry Up truly special. Apologies for the pun, but Gonzalez couldn't have dreamed up a better record. 4.9/5.
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