Refreshed Air ready to show a new generation the joys of real music
The French duo, purveyors of sumptuous, atmospheric dream-pop, took a long break from live performance to ‘enjoy life in Paris’ and pursue other projects, but now they’re ready to return (slowly, of course) to the stage
“Slow motion music.” That’s how Jean-Benoit Dunckel characterises what his band Air create. And if you’ve heard anything by this crafty French duo, you know what he means.
In songs like Sexy Boy, Cherry Blossom Girl and Playground Love (from Air’s soundtrack for the movie of The Virgin Suicides), Dunckel and his collaborator Nicolas Godin use breathy vocals and vintage-synth tones set at drowsy tempos to conjure a lush atmosphere of intrigue and seduction.
But Dunckel’s phrase also describes the pace of Air’s activity: the duo are making an unhurried return to the stage after years away.
The group weren’t silent during that period. In 2012, Air released Le Voyage Dans la Lune, an album of songs designed to accompany a restored version of Georges Melies’ century-old silent film of the same title; two years later, the duo were commissioned to compose music for a French museum.
But after touring consistently since 1998, when Air released their hit debut, Moon Safari, the musicians were ready for a break – “to just enjoy life in Paris”, as Godin says, and also to work separately on projects outside Air.