A breath of fresh electronic air from Air

French electronic band, or AIR (the letters standing for the words Amour, Imagination, Rêve, ‘Love, Imagination, Dream’) can be rightfully considered one of the lawmakers in its genre. At the same time its music as it often happens with talented authors goes out far beyond the frames of simple electronica. The duo consisting of Nicolas Godin and Jean- Benoît Dunckel has been working together for more than 15 years already. The musicians started as par of a young collective Orange, but soon realized that they two could do very well and formed the duo Air today known all over the world. The duo has released several successful albums each of which contains more than one hit. The bright imagery is characteristic for the works of Air therefore video is layed very well on them. The band often collaborates with the renowned film director Sophia Coppola, in particular, it has taken part in the soundtrack for her feature film Lost In Translation. Thus, the release of the new record Love 2 this year cannot but please both the audience and the Air huge fan base for this album is the come back to the beginning of the creative work and gives the listeners a breath of fresh electronic air simultaneously.

A very joyful and optimistic record Love 2

Love 2 is Air’s fifth studio album, and it is here that the musicians have deciced to remember how everything started. There are no super-modern technologies the duo has been extensively using lately on this very joyful and optimistic record, and the vocal parties are performed by some artists unknown to anybody. For the most part, Goden and Dunckel play Moog synthesizers here, adopt the simplest recorders and try to be as simple as they can on the whole. The album opens with Do The Joy refined with quite heavy accompaniment contrasting with soft vocals, whereas a great instrumental track Love has concentrated the lightness of various instruments’ sounding, from bass guitar to brass and piano. An ethereal, fantastically contagious song So Light Is Her Footfall, undoubtedly proves to be one of the album highlights – the soft male vocals, various unexpected effects make it the first pretender to become a new hit. Another instrumental composition Be A Bee is a wonderful example how to mix rock guitars with and a danceable rhythm, whereas Missing The Light Of The Day is once again among the album’s best moments filled with the 1980s spirit, this track you are sure to remember for a long time. The first single Sing Sang Sung is once again refined with female vocals and interesting lyrics about relationship, whereas the instrumental number Eat My Beat is another greeting from the past, 1990s this time. A beautiful, slightly mysterious tune refines the composition You Can Tell It To Everybody, once again with no words, and the album closer is African Velvet, pleasing with soothing guitars, unusual percussion and mesmerizing brass.

Electrifying, fresh, inventive tracks

The tandem of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel presents a unique phenomenon. On the one hand, they write music perfect for accompanying stylish movies, for creating unusual videos and for a constant search of something original, new, progressive. On the other hand, honesty, sincerity and soulfulness are present on the most of their compositions, so Air can by no means be called a commercial project. Moreover, it is enough to see their live performances at least on video to make sure that these guys know what real improvisation means. No doubt, the new album Love 2 contains enough of material for that kind of shows – as before, the electrifying, fresh, inventive tracks are built upon flexible tunes, which the musicians can develop, deepen, add something to or, on the contrary, simplify. Perhaps it is difficult to point out one or two most notable compositions on Love 2 as well as it is impossible to find at least one failure but on this album Air has really managed to join the advantages of its music at the beginning of its career with the possibilities of the music world of the present days.

Alexandra Zachernovskaya
09.10.2009