tue 15/10/2024

CD: M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming | reviews, news & interviews

CD: M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

CD: M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Tooled for stadiums rather than the sofa

M83's 'Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming': bigger than these kids

Remember the big music? Eighties big. Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” big. Simple Minds’ “Waterfront” big. Anthony Gonzalez does. He might say his fifth album as M83 is inspired by The Smashing Pumpkins’ 1995 double set Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, but it’s built on foundations from a decade earlier.

Ten years on from the first M83 album, Antibes’s Gonzalez hasn’t travelled quite as far as Messier 83, the galaxy whose name he’s adopted, but he has arrived at a point where intimacy has become distant. His reconfigured shoegazing – which prefigured much of the chillwave flapdoodle – used to be on a human scale, whatever his penchant for anthemic choruses. Now, with Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, Gonzalez is looking to overwhelm rather than worm in.

It takes some getting used to. Former Medicine mainman Brad Laner guesting on Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is unsurprising, but the ghost of Peter Gabriel past – both vocally and rhythmically – constantly bubbles up. Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr could comfortably chip in with some “eh eh ehs” at the beginning of “Reunion”. Looking to The Smashing Pumpkins at their most bombastic is brave. Like Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Hurry Up… is a double set, even though it could have fitted on one CD. The nod is largely gestural.

All of which would be irrelevant if Hurry Up… didn’t realise its promise. In the main, it does. “Wait” balances the reflective with the soaring in the same way as Pink Floyd’s “Time”. The short “Train to Pluton” shimmers like doppler. The gentle, choir-assisted “Splendor” is lovely. But it’s the grandiose which is going to hit home. “New Map” is lighters in the air, Arcade Fire urgency. “Steve McQueen” is built for swaying to in the stadium. It's not neccesarily today's enormo-dome though.

Visit Kieron Tyler’s blog

Listen to "Midnight City" from M83's Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

Gonzalez has arrived at a point where intimacy has become distant

rating

Editor Rating: 
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)

Share this article

Add comment

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters