It's hard to imagine anyone recording and releasing 'Before The Dawn Heals Us' with a serious look on their face. We live in a time where so much needs to be said, so why release a record which doesn’t say anything? Were not even talking statements of huge importance, just statements of anything. Or at least, if you’re not going to make your record say anything, at least fill it with good tunes. Sadly, Anthony Gonzalez (M83) has done none of these things, and the record drags as a consequence. There are some parts of this album which are inoffensive and tolerable. After 'Car Chase Terror', 'Slight Night Shivern' is positively creepy. There are traces of Mercury Rev in 'Farewell/Goodbye', and even a scent of Faithless in 'Don’t Save Us From The Flames'. But mostly, M83 just sound like themselves. There is definitely originality here, just not enough substance. And essentially, is the fact that an album is inoffensive and tolerable going to make you want to buy it?
In places this record feels like a C list horror film based almost entirely in a church. In fact, if this was what this album was used for, it might make it more likeable. It just seems out of context as a stand-alone piece of music. Mostly the songs are repetitive in the extreme, which would perhaps sit well in a spine-tingling film, but quickly grates without any visual stimulus. Last track 'Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun' is an excruciating ten minutes long, which I know doesn’t sound that long, but go on. I dare you to listen to the whole of this album and then suffer the last ten minutes of that track. No actually, don’t. I feel like I’ve performed a public service. I listened to the whole of this album (therapy pending) so you wouldn’t have to.
The bottom line is, there’s a Mercury Rev album out this week. Buy that. Or if you’re determined to have prog. rock, buy a Yes! album. Either way, don’t look back in this direction.
