Brighten My Trail

M83 “Claudia Lewis”

M83 specialize in a sort of musical nostalgia that does very little to move me, though I recognize the ways it aggressively jabs at the emotional buttons of those for whom the idea of “The Eighties” might have a profound resonance. Their new album, a double disc set, is sprawling and “epic,” but its expanse is mostly numbing – a few setpiece numbers are surrounded by ethereal time-wasters and underwritten bombast. M83 aim for a cinematic grandeur and mostly attain it; it’s just too bad that Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming would be a very mediocre film.

I also have issues with Anthony Gonzalez’s voice – I appreciate that he’s “going for it,” and committing to expressing something akin to passion in his performances, but that doesn’t keep him from sounding like some kind of petulant eunuch. Why is this the default for so much acclaimed indie music right now? It conveys powerful emotion, but no agency. I can see why that a lot of young people today would identify with that, but ugh, I don’t think it’s a positive thing!

This doesn’t mean that M83 can’t nail it here and there. The single “Midnight City” is a very strong and engaging composition that compresses the charm and ambition of the band into four minutes so effectively that it makes the remaining 70 minutes of the album seem entirely redundant. I’m also fond of “Claudia Lewis,” a vaguely funky track that balances its hyper-romantic atmosphere evenly with a few sharp hooks and a vocal performance that, while thin and bleating, gets across some convincing emotional stakes.

Buy it from Amazon.