M83 HURRY UP, WE'RE DREAMING DOUBLE ALBUM M83 RECORDINGS RELEASE: OCTOBER 17, 2011 REVIEW: NOVEMBER 4, 2011

If you're like me, you love to travel. If you're like me, you can't really afford to travel as much as you'd want to. If you're like me, you will love M83 and use this fantastic double album to travel in your mind as a sort of substitute. Taking the M83 highway around your brain is a sublime experience; zapping, swooshing between ambient, 80:s pop, alternative rock, children's stories - and more. It's epic, in every sense of the word.

M83 is basically a one man project by French dude Anthony Gonzalez, apparently a guy with a strong vision. He's got help from other musicians at times, but he does programming, guitar, vocals, orchestral arrangements, design etc. M83 is named after a galaxy, and the whole album has a sort of a spacey, huge feel to it. It's a perfect mix of nostalgia and melancholia, creating a lush and warm soundscape and the more structured pop songs have a very distinct style to them. As a double album, it's an ambitious project to say the least, and yet it seems he's created his finest work so far, improving and meshing the sounds from his earlier work.

"Wait" is a pretty chill track at first, but build in intensity throughout until it just bristles with the restrained energy of a dying star just before it goes supernova. Majestic and powerful, and one of my favourite songs of 2011. Other tracks are playful and catchy, others are orchestral and big. The imagination, musicality and level of ambition on this album is simply staggering.

If you're already a fan of M83, I think you will love this. If you want to discover something new and wonderful, give M83 a try.

JOHAN CARLSSON