![]() Released in 2004, it was richer and more ambitious than its predecessors. Godrich listened to the project, loved it, contributed some ideas, and took the album to Ocean Way Studios in Hollywood to complete it. They wrote music for several performances and happenings with Italian writer Alessandro Baricco, released on the City Reading album, mixed by Nigel Godrich, and collaborated with choregrapher Angelin Preljocaj for his Near Life Experience ballet.Īt that time, AIR had already begun to work on their new album Talkie Walkie. For their third album, 10,000Hz Legend (2001), they went more experimental, and began a collaboration with Beck. The album was nevertheless another success, and by the beginning of the Noughties, AIR had become a truly international act, often labelled 'French Touch' along with compatriots like Laurent Garnier, Daft Punk, Alex Gopher, Dimitri From Paris, Motorbass and Mellow, though AIR's music had nothing to do with house or techno. ![]() Brian Reitzell's drums were more upfront, tempos were faster, the sound cleaner and less ambient. Even though the album was still recorded at Saint‑Nom - on an Akai DR16 this time - and mixed by Alf, it sounded different. An instant classic, Moon Safari has sold more than three million copies worldwide.ĪIR's success spread to England and the US, where their first tour was documented in a film by Mike Mills, appropriately named Eating, Sleeping, Waiting & Playing, and Sofia Coppola asked them to write the music for her breakthrough movie, Virgin Suicides. Released at the beginning of 1998, Moon Safari delved deeper into the '70s mood, with picked electric Fender bass, Rhodes piano, handclaps, analogue synth effects, electric organ, drum machine, Mellotron, and songs like 'Sexy Boy' and 'Kelly Watch The Stars' - a reference to the TV series Charlie's Angels - were heard on every French radio station. They then went to London to record strings in Abbey Road, arranged by English veteran and living legend David Whitaker - a dream come true for them. ![]() The duo spent several months in a recording studio near Paris called Studio de Saint‑Nom, and asked a friend - freelance engineer and former Plus XXX assistant Stéphane 'Alf' Briat - to work as a sound engineer on that project.ĭunckel and Godin wrote their songs and recorded their basic tracks on a Fostex D80 in Saint‑Nom, then added some elements in Gang Studios in Paris. and place them as we wanted.” From top: Sequential Prophet 5 and Yamaha CS60 Moog Memorymoog, Yamaha DX7 and Manikin Electronic Memotron Moog Minimoog, Korg MS20, Roland SH101, PPG Wave, Solina String Ensemble and Elektron Monomachine.įinally, in 1997, Source asked AIR to record a whole album. "We could choose from around 20 keyboards, always ready to use. Godin and Dunckel also worked on remixes for artists such as Neneh Cherry and Depeche Mode. All of these memorable songs, reminiscent of artists like François de Roubaix, Jean‑Jacques Perrey and Ennio Morricone, were originally released on maxi‑singles or on compilations, but have since been reissued on the Premiers Symptômes compilation CD. So it's true we had a very personal sound, but it was by default,” says Nicolas Godin. We completely missed the '80s/'90s 'digital synth' period, in fact. "We had no money at this time, so we bought the most affordable instruments available: analogue synths from the '70s. Dunckel, Godin and their friends added drums, percussions, guitars, bass, tuba… Mainly instrumental, downtempo and nostalgic, all of these were still recorded at home, with vintage instruments: Rhodes electric piano, Solina String Ensemble, Moog and Korg MS20 synths, vocoder and organ. Together, they produced further 'maxi‑singles' for Source, with titles like 'J'ai Dormi Sous L'eau', 'Les Professionnels', 'Casanova 70' and 'Le Soleil Est Près De Moi'. With several remixes, it was re‑released on British label Mo'Wax in 1996.įollowing this small success, Godin asked his friend Jean‑Benoît Dunckel, a classically trained pianist and then a maths student, to join him in AIR. 'Modulor Mix', a tribute to Le Corbusier, was recorded on Godin's Portastudio, and appeared on the Source Lab album in 1995. Nicolas Godin, then an architecture student and amateur musician, was asked by a childhood friend to write a song for a compilation to be released by Source, a small French independent label. Photo: Dominique TarléĪt its outset, AIR - an acronym for "Amour, Imagination, Rêve” (love, imagination, dream) - was a one‑person project. Jean‑Benoît Dunckel (left) and Nicolas Godin, behind the Trident desk in their Atlas Studio.
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