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