The French piss me off.
With their wine and cheese, art and sauces, universal health care and fries (admit it, you didn’t like it when they were called Freedom fries), the French have built themselves quite a fortress of delights. Yet when it comes to contemporary music, the French are lacking, allowing the Brits to take the lead in the fight for our ears. This is a good thing – the French shouldn’t be allowed to dwell in sensory domination.
But along comes M83, the indie act founded by musician Anthony Gonzalez, and we must bow again to the mastery of French technique. Quirky and beautiful, inventive and didactic, M83 is the blueprint for the future of music. For the French to lay claim to this is too much.
With Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, M83′s sixth album, Gonzalez has created a double album of stunning proportions, creating an 75-minute feast mixed with ambient charm, pop revelations and sturdy shoegaze. As double albums go, it’s a crisp and clean listen, never bogging down, discovering new realms Gonzalez has not delved in before. The two albums conjure different moods but together make for an indelible mix of striking exploration – Gonzalez is out to prove his worth.
Album one opener “Intro” is expansive in pure M83 ways, a chorus of mighty tones aided with Zola Jesus’ bright voice. The following “Midnight City” doesn’t venture too far from the band’s exceptional 2008 album Saturdays = Youth, and while it’s a fine song there’s a slight fear Gonzalez spent three years deciding to stay the course. Fear not.
“Reunion” is the kind of 1980s throwback song everyone wishes they could write, with touches of Book of Love, OMD and New Order. It’s a multi-layered wonder that also serves as a simple dance song. “Wait,” with its gentile acoustic guitars against yearning lyrics, is the lovely song Sirens would use to send sailors to a watery grave – and they would thank them for it. “This Bright Flash” is racing and thrilling, serving as a turning point as the listener moves on to album number two.
“My Tears Are Becoming A Sea” sends the second album on its way, evoking a bit more post-rock than the previous disk with a hearty wave to Sigur Ros. But between these post-rock moments are songs of supreme artistry – the varied and hefty “New Map,” which starts with stern drums and ends with a light, steady, easy groove. “Year One, One UFO” is different than anything M83 has done before, a stirring jumble of guitars and tight synths with whispering, echoed lyrics.
As for “Steve McQueen,” it’s the best song put out in 2011. This is Gonzalez at the height of his powers and he knows it – why would anyone bury the lead single on the eighth track of album two on a double album release unless they knew it was a monster?
It shines through, as difficult as it may be on this 22-song spectacle.
Dreaming is about as good as it gets, and Gonzalez can claim for the French the album of the year. I’d be more pissed off if I wasn’t so pleased such a fine piece of art exists – sometimes you have to give a people their due.
