M83: Before The Dawn Heals Us (2LP+CD) [MUTE]

Why you'll love it

This edition spreads the album over a 2LP set, with a CD alongside. Pitchfork made it Best New Music with an 8.6, and Amazon named it one of its Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005.

This edition

• 2LP set
• CD included
• Download card included

About the album

The cover shows the Bangkok skyline at night, which is fair warning: this is a city-sized record. After founding member Nicolas Fromageau left, Anthony Gonzalez took the wheel of M83 for its third album, writing most of it, often with his brother Yann, and producing with Antoine Gaillet and Jean-Philippe Talaga.

The result swings between shoegaze roar and cinematic hush. "Moonchild" opens with a choir-sized swell, "Don't Save Us From The Flames" is a full-throttle rush of fuzz and synths, and "Teen Angst" is pure widescreen nostalgia. Quieter moments like "I Guess I'm Floating" and "Safe" let the light in, and the closer, "Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun," stretches past ten minutes in one long, glorious build.

The music took on a second life on screen: "Moonchild" turned up on Top Gear, "Teen Angst" in trailers for A Scanner Darkly, and "I Guess I'm Floating" in Like Crazy. It's a fine soundtrack for driving at night, provided you don't attempt it at Top Gear speeds.

Also at Kops: more M83 on vinyl · browse Electronic

Tracklist

Listen

On Mute (cat# 9546-1 / M83-3LP), a reissue of the 2005 album.