On my first listen, I thought my ears weren’t working. But the audio slowly creeps up on you, leaving you with a teasing wait until the subtle synths are announced. Sadly, that’s the only teasing excitement we get, really.
DSVII is the perfect bus playlist, as the tracks that play like arcade game loading screens roll so fluently like wheels on the road, taking you far and wide on internal journeys you didn’t think you would go on. Harmonies mirroring gospels, it feels enough to rid your lungs of breath as you sigh in awe of its potential beauty. To get lost upon the adventure of the synth is easy, but it can be questioned if this is out of spectacle or boredom.
Although beautiful, its delicate melodies play like a constant introduction, leading you into a pitfall of forever expecting a big hurrah – which we don’t see until midway through the penultimate track. Each listen feels like ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’: by the time the album reaches its potential its already been spoilt by its earthy beginnings.
But, when paired with the technicolour adventure of its visual images in music videos, the complexities leak through, and the hits the album tried to deliver finally have their impact. When you put an odd sci-fi world to the expansive synths on the record it all tends to make more sense – the oddities found across the tracks finally fit people and creatures, and most of all a narrative. Still only slightly though. Every listen returns me to a dreary state, failing to excite me. (Sorry M83)
Haiku Review:
The boy who cried wolf,
Crying from Midnight City.
This time, no-one cares.
Listen to M83 on Spotify and Apple Music.
