Intro is the appropriately titled opening track on M83's forthcoming double album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. Featuring soaring vocals from Canadian doom-pop exponent Zola Jesus, it's five minutes of slowburn emotion which builds from shimmering synth wash to an almighty cacophony of exploding cymbals, sweeping strings and a choir of voices that make Sigur Ros' more OTT moments seem restrained. It can be pretty easy to hit the default button marked "Epic" and hope for the best (Strings? Check! Choir? Check! Kitchen sink? Etcetera), but on Intro that balance between the grandiose and the genuinely heartfelt is weighted perfectly, with Zola Jesus emerging out of the fog around the two-minute mark to add some creeping otherworldliness to proceedings.
Hurry Up, We're Dreaming is out on 18 October
New music: M83 feat Zola Jesus – Intro
Michael Cragg
This track strikes a fine balance between grandiose and genuinely heartfelt, before Zola Jesus adds some otherworldliness to the mix
Contributor
Michael Cragg
Michael Cragg
is a music writer for the Guardian and Observer as well as contributing
to i-D, Fader and Q. He's also the editor of BEAT magazine.
Michael Cragg
The GuardianTramp
