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**M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming**
★★★★☆

Anthony Gonzalez has always been a dreamer, but on his sixth studio album as M83, the French electronic auteur crafts his most ambitious reverie yet. *Hurry Up, We're Dreaming* is a sprawling double album that feels less like a collection of songs and more like a fever dream transmitted from some parallel universe where John Hughes directed *Blade Runner* and My Bloody Wall wrote the soundtrack to *The Goonies*.

The genesis of this 22-track odyssey can be traced back to Gonzalez's relocation from the French Riviera to Los Angeles, where the endless highways and neon-soaked nights began seeping into his subconscious. Following the critical acclaim of 2008's *Saturdays = Youth*, which saw M83 evolving from ambient post-rock pioneers into masters of nostalgic synth-pop, Gonzalez felt compelled to push even further into uncharted territory. The result is an album that reads like a love letter to childhood wonder, wrapped in layers of shimmering synthesizers and drenched in enough reverb to fill the Grand Canyon.

Musically, *Hurry Up, We're Dreaming* defies easy categorization, though "cinematic shoegaze" comes closest to capturing its essence. Gonzalez weaves together elements of ambient electronica, dream pop, and new wave into a tapestry that's simultaneously retro-futuristic and timelessly emotional. The production, handled by Gonzalez alongside collaborator Justin Meldal-Johnsen, achieves a rare feat: it's massive without being overwhelming, detailed without losing its sense of wonder.

The album's crown jewel is undoubtedly "Midnight City," a track that manages to distill the entire M83 experience into four and a half minutes of pure euphoria. Built around a saxophone line that sounds like it was beamed down from the heavens by some benevolent alien jazz musician, the song captures the intoxicating rush of youth with an urgency that's both celebratory and melancholic. It's the kind of song that makes you want to drive through empty streets at 3 AM with the windows down, chasing some indefinable feeling that exists just beyond your grasp.

But *Hurry Up, We're Dreaming* offers riches beyond its most famous single. "Steve McQueen" opens the album with a gentle acoustic guitar that gradually builds into a wall of synthesized bliss, setting the stage for the journey ahead. "Wait" showcases Gonzalez's gift for melody, with vocalist Morgan Kibby delivering a performance that's both ethereal and deeply human. The instrumental "Splendor" lives up to its name, unfolding like a sunrise in slow motion, while "Outro" closes the album with a sense of bittersweet finality that feels like watching childhood disappear in the rearview mirror.

The double album format allows Gonzalez to explore different moods and textures without feeling constrained by conventional song structures. Ambient interludes like "Train to Pluton" and "Klaus I Love You" serve as palette cleansers between the more song-oriented material, creating a flow that feels both organic and carefully orchestrated. It's an approach that requires patience from listeners raised on playlist culture, but the rewards are substantial for those willing to surrender to Gonzalez's vision.

More than a decade after its release, *Hurry Up, We're Dreaming* stands as M83's masterpiece and one of the defining albums of the 2010s. "Midnight City" became an unlikely mainstream hit, introducing M83's sound to a generation of listeners who might never have encountered ambient post-rock otherwise. The album's influence can be heard in countless artists who've adopted Gonzalez's approach to combining electronic textures with emotional immediacy, from Chvrches to The 1975.

Perhaps most importantly, *Hurry Up, We're Dreaming* captures something essential about the human experience: that sense of standing on the precipice between past and future, childhood and adulthood, dreams and reality. In an era of increasing cynicism and digital disconnection, Gonzalez's unabashed romanticism feels both radical and necessary. This is music for believers, for those who still think magic might be hiding around the next corner. In Anthony Gonzalez's world, it usually is.