#LES SOLEOL ET PRES AIR HOW TO#
The juxtaposition of their ethereally beautiful harmonies and the harsh robotic voice in ‘How Does It Make You Feel' are clear examples of the quirks that make Air so much more than a couple of smart French dudes who knew how to get played in cafes and on make-up commercials. “The rest of the album is too complicated,” Godin told RBMA when discussing ‘How Does It Make You Feel'.
#LES SOLEOL ET PRES AIR FULL#
Whether that was due to the audience's expectations or the band's eagerness to prove there was more to them than what Moon Safari suggested, we'll probably never full ascertain.īut it had plenty of wondrous moments and ‘How Does It Make You Feel' is one of the finest. It sent the message that they were evolving and that they were interested in sustaining their career as inventive and innovative musicians, rather than resting on their laurels after one great record.ĭespite that, the record was pretty universally considered a step back for the duo. It was an important album, because it wasn't Moon Safari Mk II. Chapter 4 ‘How Does It Make You Feel’ (10,000 Hz Legend, 2001)Īfter releasing their outstanding debut and a brilliant soundtrack project, the pressure was on Air to deliver with 2001's 10,000 Hz Legend. A bold move for a second record, but a good opportunity for Air to show that their music has the potential to be versatile. ‘Playground Love' appears as the opening track on the soundtrack they composed for Sofia Coppola's film The Virgin Suicides. The strings that drone behind the song are impossibly beautiful, their arrangement both sophisticated and comfortingly modest. The song features perhaps Air's finest ever vocal melody, thanks to their old buddy, Phoenix lead singer Thomas Mars who appears under the nom de plume Gordon Tracks. But there's so much more to it than that. It's easy to just focus on the saxophone when talking about ‘Playground Love'.
While Air mightn't have shocked us with this track, they continued to dazzle. Given that it was the first new material most of us had heard in the wake of that huge record, it was a pleasing but not entirely surprising track when it was released in 2000. ‘Playground Love' would easily have worked on Moon Safari. Chapter 3 ‘Playground Love’ (The Virgin Suicides, 2000) It's a perfect introduction to a stunning album and, for many of us, a perfect introduction to what would become a fascinating career. Its deep groove, impossibly cool freeform Rhodes piano solo, shimmering organ and spacey synth sounds amalgamate to create something that feels both warmly familiar and sleekly cold at the same time. “I wanted to do just ten minutes of that bass riff, but JB said we should put something else on it,” Nicolas Godin quipped in a RBMA lecture in 2015. The moment that bass line surreptitiously slides in after 25 seconds or so, you know you're in for a kind of space-age retro-futurist-pop journey. But, as ‘La Femme D'argent' proves, not every seven-minute song is an epic.Īir have a gentle touch and used it to ease us into their debut with this super slinky instrumental. Opening your debut album with a seven-minute song would almost always be considered an ambitious move. This makes it hard to choose a song to start with, so we'll just start at the start. Intelligent, but accessible, it crossed over to a larger audience than many would expect – perhaps a case of ‘right place, right time' given the burgeoning boom in downtempo electronica – but has proven to earn its popularity as its songs retain their relevance so many years later. No matter how strong your feelings for this band are, you can hopefully appreciate that this is one of the great pop albums of the 1990s. There's a good chance your first exposure came via their 1998 debut Moon Safari and it's possible this is the only Air album you own. Perhaps they were on the stereo in a café, a bar or at a house party. Or maybe watched the sweet skater love story that played out in the film clip for ‘All I Need'. Perhaps you heard the intriguing space-pop of ‘Sexy Boy' on the radio. Chapter 2 ‘La Femme D'argent’ (Moon Safari, 1998)ĭo you remember the first time you heard Air? If you're new to Air, or you've let your fandom lapse in recent years, here are a few reminders of the genius of this impossibly cool French duo. But the fully-formed, easily digestible grooves of Air appealed to a There are tons of amazing French pop acts who utilise vintage synths and sophisticated pop melodies to set slinky moods and elevate the class levels in any given room. But their best songs – of which there are a staggering amount – remain elegant and exciting, years on from their release.
Sure, their latest output might seem second-rate when stacked up against their classic albums. We don't talk about Air enough these days. Chapter 1 20 Years Of Air: 5 Of Their Finest Moments
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