More apt to cite stately
rock paragons
Burt Bacharach and
Brian Wilson as their inspirations than
Derrick May or
Aphex Twin, the French duo
Air gained inclusion into the late-'90s
electronica surge due chiefly to the labels their recordings appeared on, not the actual music they produced. Their sound, a variant of the classic
disco sound coaxed into a relaxing Prozac vision of the late '70s, looked back to a variety of phenomena from the period -- synthesizer maestros
Tomita,
Jean-Michel Jarre, and
Vangelis,
new wave music of the nonspiky variety, and obscure Italian film
soundtracks. Despite gaining quick entrance into the
dance community (through releases for Source and Mo' Wax),
Air's 1998 debut album,
Moon Safari, charted a light -- well, airy -- course along soundscapes composed with melody lines by Moog and Rhodes, not Roland and Yamaha.
The presence of several female vocalists, an equipment list whose number of pieces stretched into the dozens, and a baroque tuba solo on one track -- all of this conspired to make
Air more of a happening in the living room than the dancefloor.
Though Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel both grew up in Versailles, the two didn't meet until they began studying at the same college. Dunckel, who had studied at the Conservatoire in Paris, played in an alternative band named Orange. One of Dunckel's bandmates,
Alex Gopher, introduced Godin into the lineup. While
Gopher himself departed (later to record for the Solid label), Dunckel and Godin continued on, becoming
Air by 1995. During 1996-1997, the duo released singles on Britain's Mo' Wax ("Modular") and the domestic Source label ("Casanova 70," "Le Soleil Est Prés de Moi"). Though
Air often evinced the same '60s Continental charm as
Dimitri From Paris -- due no doubt to the influence of
Serge Gainsbourg -- the duo had little in common musically with other acts (
Daft Punk) in the wave of French
electronica lapping at the shores of Britain and America during 1997. That same year,
Air remixed
Depeche Mode and
Neneh Cherry and joined French musique concrète popster
Jean-Jacques Perrey for a track on the Source compilation Sourcelab, Vol. 3.
Signed to Virgin,
Air released their debut album,
Moon Safari, in early 1998. The singles "Sexy Boy" and "Kelly Watch the Stars" became moderate hits in Britain and earned airplay on MTV. Later that year, Godin and Dunckel mounted an ambitious tour throughout Europe and America, though they had originally decided to forego live appearances. Their early singles were collected in 1999 under the title
Premiers Symptomes; the duo's
soundtrack to the Sofia Coppola film The Virgin Suicides followed in early 2000.
Air's second studio effort,
10,000 Hz Legend, appeared in spring 2001 with a subsequent tour of the U.S., but critics and fans alike didn't appreciate the darker, more experimental direction. They bridged the gap between the pop of
Moon Safari and the experimentalism of
10,000 Hz Legend with their 2004 release
Talkie Walkie. Along with touring in support of that album, the pair remained busy making music in 2005 and 2006: they collaborated, along with
Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and
the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon, on
Charlotte Gainsbourg's album 5:55, and Dunckel released a solo album as Darkel. Cocker and Hannon also appeared on
Air's fourth album,
Pocket Symphony, which was released in early 2007. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
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