Hurry up, We're Dreaming

M83's ambitious sixth album flows like an endless dream, in which bursts of ecstatic synth-pop interweave with sumptuous ambient vignettes and bright flashes of '80s nostalgia. The two discs parallel one another in icy sheets of synths ("Intro," "My Tears Are Becoming a Sea"), soft acoustic picks ("Wait," "Splendor"), and slick dance beats cut up with Anthony Gonzalez's sharp, cathartic yelps ("Claudia Lewis," "Steve McQueen"). But it’s "Midnight City," with its piercing synth stabs and triumphant sax, that turns this dream fully lucid.