Posted by Phil in 2011, Album Review | 0 Comments
album review: M83 “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming”
mp3 – M83 – Intro (ft. Zola Jesus)
mp3 – M83 – Midnight City
As the album title suggests, M83’s sixth studio album, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, is about, well, dreams. And as abstract as a theme that dreams may be, that seems to be the point to this beautifully crafted double-album from French synth/dream-pop act M83.
M83 mastermind Anthony Gonzalez took 3 years to complete this epic 22-track beast that clocks in at 1.2 hours of synthesized bliss, and the meticulous patience has paid off.
Boasting production from Justin Meldal-Johnsen, who has contributed with the likes of NiN, Beck and Goldfrapp, along with guest vocals from gothic synth-stress Zola Jesus and guitarist Brad Laner, from shoe-gaze veterans Medicine, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is one of those albums that has such a grandiose level of sound to it that listeners will uncontrollably take away something very different from each subsequent listen.
Gonzalez described the album as, “…mainly about dreams, how every one is different, how you dream differently when you’re a kid, a teenager, or an adult…” And just as the dreams throughout the album are different in various ways, the album as a whole is much different than M83’s critically acclaimed album Saturday’s = Youth.
Where Saturday’s = Youth was heavier on the synth-pop genre, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming takes bits and pieces of M83’s discography to complete the collage of sound that makes up their latest effort. The wall-of-sound ambience of “Before the Dawn Heals Us,” and earlier shoe-gaze elements are very much present with this album, and the collective cohesion of these genres return such an expansive sound-filled result that you’d be doing an injustice to your ears and mind by listening to it on anything other than headphones or a high quality stereo system. Laptop speakers need not apply.
Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is the type of album that will take you to different places upon different listens. The seemingly solemn nature of a track like “Wait” has a cloud-like atmosphere that can send the listener to a realm of an uplifting bounce-along while it can just as easily be defeating to the point of tears. Some songs will be reflective and nostalgic where others, like “This Bright Flash,” have a running paranoid sense that is inescapable. But while these are some obvious emotions that can be culled by these songs, each listen will ultimately bring forward internal and personal interpretations. And where there may be lack of cohesion between the tracks, the cohesion may lay in that it’s purposely scatter-brained so each track is it’s own entity to be broken down,analyzed and experienced on its own.
Even the pop-heavy tracks like the first single, “Midnight City,” are fair game for interpretation as it churns along with its backbone synth lines that build upon tiered wail-walls, synth-blips and drum machine blasts make this one of the stand-out tracks on the album. Along with “Midnight City,” the piano-laden “Splendor,” is one of the albums shining moments. With soft choral backgrounds to accompany the spacey synthesizers, this track could be one of those “adult” dreams Gonzalez spoke of, or perhaps it lines more with the dreams of a teenager. This is the beauty of this album; it’s going to connect with listeners on such a personal level because it’s so abstract and full-bodied that it has to. Where some may listen to a track like “Fountains” go into an earthy trance that reminds them to recycle – others will instantly go down nostalgia road when comparisons to the score of “Twin Peaks” arise and they reflect on that time in their lives.
But despite its title and the fast-paced nature of many of the tracks, there is no need to hurry to the listener. This is album is a soaker, a thinker. It can be uplifting and deflating, it can bring back great memories and make you rethink your entire life’s decisions. Just like our own dreams, there never is really an answer to “what does it mean?” Rather it’s a way to think of what it could mean, what it makes you think, what it makes you feel and the variations of these questions that arise with each listen. This
is the triumph of Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. While it slows at times and a few of the tracks could easily have been discarded without much afterthought, as a whole Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is M83s most expansive album to date that will from track-to-track make you think differently, feel differently and ask different questions upon each listen that will ultimately have no answer.
- Phillip Martinez
