Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

If, as the title states, we are entering dreamland on M83's sixth studio release, then our fantasy is taking place in the big-haired, neon-bedazzled world of the 1980s. And why not? Back then, the American Dream still came equipped with houses.

It's not that this band, formed by French musician Anthony Gonzalez in 2001, has pitched a tent in the '80s-revivalist camp. It's as if this music is being unearthed from the 1980s, and somehow repackaged and taken in new directions with the help of today's technology.

The style employed on "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" feels like the front end of a burgeoning trend. Gonzalez has a keen sense for melody, which paired with his entrenched connection to ambient and techno sounds, creates something akin to hip-hop; a cut-and-paste form of new wave. "Dreaming," like M83's previous outings, is mostly a synth affair, but the band for the first time employs saxophone, acoustic guitar, flutes and strings to give the album a fuller flavor than, say, 2008's extroverted "Saturdays=Youth."

If all 22 songs were as dense as "Intro," the opening track, the album would be an exhausting experience. The song, featuring the operatic Zola Jesus, is a thick, moody slab of electronic pop with enough dark and light shades to make Brian Eno blush. Luckily, "Dreaming" offers a wide spectrum of hues, right down to the song's antipode, "Raconte-moi Histoire," a light, airy tale about a magic frog in a land where "everything looks like a giant cupcake," as told by a kindergartner.

On the dance-floor cool-down number, "OK Pal," M83 has no peer. It's grand pop like Peter Gabriel's early untitled records -- helped by the fact that Gonzalez's voice is reminiscent of Gabriel, powerful yet ethereal. The song is full-on electronic, with hints of Herbie Hancock, Steve Winwood and Tears for Fears at play. "Steve McQueen" offers a tantalizing, opposites-attract marriage of electronic fuzz with soaring melodies and lilting voices -- part a-ha, part Jesus and Mary Chain, part "Kokomo"-era Beach Boys. There's also the Kraftwerkian "Klaus I Love You," flamboyant space rock a la Muse on "My Tears Are Becoming a Sea," and the sweeping, organ-slathered "Splendor," offering shades of Toto.

But nothing tops the instantly infectious "Midnight City," the album's first single. Big synth drums, bigger synth voices and Gonzalez singing over top in a voice that's cold, but strangely affecting (think Gary Numan on "Cars"). It even ends with an obligatory '80s saxophone outro that seals the deal.

There's no mistaking that "Dreaming" has epic aspirations -- it is a double album, after all -- but it's heights are easily climbed because Gonzalez always remembers to bring the hooks. Throughout, M83 changes the tempo and shifts the mood often enough to keep the proceedings interesting, and at times jaw-dropping. And it's such a tightly woven production that some songs when played separately seem to begin -- or end -- abruptly.

..at 62 (Dear God..)I have been combing through todays' music like so much rubbish trying to find something...anything...that would take me where I would like to go.

Namely, out of myself, but, at the same time, within myself.

Here it is.

I found it.

I was really looking forward to M83's latest album after hearing "Midnight City", their excellent first single a few months ago. _Hurry Up, We're Dreaming_ is a well produced, audacious double album more or less continuing on from where _Saturdays=Youth_ left off. It's a pretty decent album overall, but I can't help feeling that Anthony G skimped a bit here and there when it comes to the melodies. You'll find a bunch of electro-pop tracks reminiscent of numerous 80's hits ("slappin' the bass, mon!") like Level 42 or Propaganda, a lot of instrumental interludes and keyboard driven melodies. This album sounds drenched in keyboards, and that's not always a bad thing. The saxophone can be heard embellishing a couple of songs. And there are a couple of tracks that feature acoustic guitar as well.

I really like most of the traditional, structured songs more than the instrumental interludes. "Reunion" starts off with some glorious chords and drums that sound like emphatic punctuation marks and remind me of the British band Prefab Sprout circa their _Jordan: the Comeback_ (1990) days. The drums crashing forth from the opening of "New Map" will take you back to "Don't Save Us from the Flames" from M83's 2005 release _Before the Dawn Heals Us_. "OK Pal" is a pretty catchy Howard Jones-ish number. But for me the highlight of the album, besides "Midnight City" is "Steve McQueen", a song with a soaring, fists-in-the-air chorus, dense guitars and pretty, swirling keyboards and lyrics that could be about what? The celebration of life, perhaps, self-forgiveness?, rejuvenation? It doesn't really matter. This song is REALLY GOOD.

"Fountains" and "Klaus I Love You" are a couple of the shorter, (mostly) instrumental pieces that work. In fact, I would have liked to hear how "KILY" would have sounded if it was more fleshed out. But most of the shorter songs don't have the melodies to make them memorable.

The album does seem to move along pretty quickly and considering its hour plus long running time, that's saying something. Perhaps some of the shorter tracks will grow on me as I keep listening. But the tracks worth hearing, the ones I keep going back to, are "Midnight City", "Reunion", and "Steve McQueen".

*** 1/2 stars

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