Album Cover

A French duet created in the 90s, Air is affiliated with the French Touch musical movement and still stands as a major reference amongst the international electronic music scene.

However, Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin are not merely electronic artists. Over the years, they've built a strong identity with their sound that spreads the idea that Air is a planet of its own.

When listening to the band's tracks, their airy music mixed with occasional pop beats and rockish psychedelic soundbites of electric guitars can easily lead one's ear to a trip on Air's remote planet.

Their musical signature has been recognized in two of Sofia Coppola's movies, "The Virgin Suicides" and "Lost in Translation," and numerous collaborations with artists such as Charlotte Gainsbourg, Beck Hansen, and many others.

If Air is often remembered for their first album Moon Safari released 14 years ago, on Monday, they come full circle, taking another trip to the moon with the release of "Le voyage dans la lune" (translated as "The trip on the moon").

While they were originally approached to create a soundtrack for the short movie Le voyage dans la lune, Dunckel and Godin came up with an entire album illustrating Georges Melies' 1909 silent movie.

The Groupama Gan Foundation, Technicolor Foundaton, and Serge Bromberg decided to restore and recolored the old movie offering an opportunity to Air to add their music to the film so that it could relate to modern viewers.

In addition to their interest for astronomy, spaceships, planets, and other inter-galactic topics, Godin was already very familiar with Melies' work and Dunckel had never forgotten the image of the moon hit by the spaceship in its eye. So they immediately jumped on an occasion to open their musical spaceship and create the music for the eponymous movie.

Since Le voyage dans la lune is a silent movie, Air's soundtrack has a significant impact on the film. Their music tells the story and becomes the dialogue.

They had to take in consideration the historical context of the movie and wanted to incorporate some sounds of the era depicted to the type of music they make. 

The album seems to be divided into two main inspirations: one fitting the movie's actions perfectly and the other simply recalling Air's electro-pop-funk genius.

The songs "Astronomic Club," "Moon Fever," "Who I Am Now," and "Decollage" distinctly appear as the script of "Le voyage dans la lune." Loud tambourines accompanied by baroque and evilish voices in the background speak for the scientists preparing the trip to the moon in Melies' movie. The high female vocals of "Who Am I Now" perpetuate this mystic atmosphere and "Moon Fever" plunge the listener into a dream of another era, perhaps even an unfamiliar universe.

If there were to be a side B on a vinyl version of Air's album, "Seven Stars", "Parade", "Sonic Armada", and "Lava" should be recorded separately on it. These four songs recall Air's debuts on "Moon Safari." These four songs add a modern touch to the movie and play to the duet's expected magic.

The electric guitar is loud and clear, the vocals on "Seven Stars" sound familiar, and the pop drums behind "Parade" mark the turning point of "Le voyage dans la lune," when listeners should turn the volume knob to the right.

The original soundtrack assigned to Air was a challenging piece of work in which the French duet tuned vintage and modern time in perfect harmony. "Le voyage dans la lune" is worth a detour in the Air.   

Reach Rebecca Obadia here.