Sometimes it's nice to be surprised and sometimes you just don't care because the same old, same old is so fucking good. M83's new LP is, in some sense, both a surprise and more of the same. The walls of synthesizers, soaring melodies and My Bloody Valentine-inspired bliss-noise are left over from this year's Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts. And while that record didn't elide vocals completely, they were certainly given less focus than surging keyboards and drum machines.
This time out, though, M83's modus operandi has changed slightly, but significantly. Organic-sounding electronics have led to an equally organic shift in songwriting sensibilities, clearing room for pop-song structures and thematics amidst the melancholic grandeur of M83's overpowering sound. "Don't Save Us From the Flames" marks the ends of its verses with a drum figure seemingly lifted from (and used identically to) James' totally sexy mid-'90s hit "Laid." "Farewell/Goodbye" sounds eerily similar to the already-eerie "Mysteries of Love," written by David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti for Lynch's classic film "Blue Velvet."
Then there are the changes I just don't know what to do with. "Car Chase Terror" contains a creepy monologue depicting a conversation between mother and daughter about some kind of malevolent stranger. It's either chillingly powerful or bizarre and melodramatic.
The things that make Before the Dawn Heals Us great are ultimately the same things that make repeat listens unenlightening. The elation driving the chorus of "Teen Angst" feels the same every time because the song's most effective moments are its least subtle. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. Listening to M83 is like listening to an emo record with a better sense of dynamics, melody and without self-pity. And, like that most hated of genres, M83's aesthetic demands catharsis every single time.