M83
Before the Dawn Heals Us
(Mute US)
M83 specializes in emotional electronic soundscapes. Dead Cities, Red Seas, & Lost Ghosts, their acclaimed previous album, was the sound of a thousand weeping Super Nintendos, where synthesizers penetrated and aching, effects-laden guitars twisted around each other into somber harmonies.
With Before the Dawn Heals Us, M83 crafts an album that develops the band's distinct sound and sharpens its razor-sharp emotional edge.
When listening to the first single, \Run into Flowers,"" once-mundane landscapes suddenly seem to blossom in unison and the sky's Technicolor hues burn brighter than ever before.
At the album's best, the music is an unadulterated rush of majestic sonics and stunning climaxes. The lead single, ""Don't Save Us from the Slaves,"" evokes terrifying beauty from a first person account of a fiery car crash.
Propulsive live drums and haunting lyrics, both new weapons in the band's arsenal, combine with screaming synths and fuzzed out guitar in a simple quiet-loud verse-chorus structure that builds for three and a half minutes until the dramatic climax assaults the listener's senses, leaving them gasping for air.
The follow-up, ""In the Cold I'm Left Standing,"" a somber atmospheric piece, then thankfully reigns in the tempo and lets the listener catch their breath.
After the disappointingly saccharine sweet ""Farewell/Goodbye,"" comes the electronic squall of ""Fields, Shorelines, and Hunters"" and ""*."" The latter track sounds like At the Drive In covering New Order. It sounds pissed off, scared, and defiant, all at the same time.
""Teen Youth"" distills every teenager's beautiful, exciting, heartbreaking, and overwhelming experiences into four minutes of emotive bliss. It stands, along with ""Run Into Flowers,"" as one of the most beautiful songs in the band's catalogue. ""Teen Angst"" is the beating heart of the album, but unfortunately, it is also the early peak.
The second half of Before the Dawn loses steam. ""Can't Stop"" is a weak power-ballad with chipmunk vocals. ""Safe"" and ""Let Men Burn Stars"" are only marginally better, with M83 leaving more space for their sparse, reverberating piano melodies. ""Car Chase Terror!,"" with its over-the-top vocal sample that could have been lifted from an especially bad Lifetime movie, is a tough listen.
Momentum is regained, however, when the subtle ""Slight Night Shiver"" leads into the pulsating strut of ""A Guitar and a Heart,"" both solid tracks. The album ends with an overblown finale in ""Lower your Eyelids to Die with the Sun.""
It is clear at this point that M83 wants the listener to be in an hour-long state of catharsis, but unfortunately, the music is not uniformly strong enough to sustain such a lofty ambition. At the album's height, Before the Dawn Heals Us is a conduit for emotional release.
This is not music for jaded cynics. M83's tangible passion permeates throughout their work, which never sounds contrived or distant. And, thankfully, unlike countless other new bands or artists where rock star posturing has become a way of life, irony is not a word located within this band's musical vocabulary.
