Archive for the ‘Air’ Category

Sometimes, but not always, it’s good to get something where you know exactly what you’re paying for.  Obviously, if you’re looking to buy a loaf of bread, you should expect to get a loaf of bread, and not poker chips with naked men on them.  However, there are moments where you go buy the new album from an artist you’ve come to know and love for a particular reason, and then all of a sudden, the electro-pop band is releasing an acoustic rock opera (Prince’s N.E.W.S. pops to mind… watered down Jazz?  Really?  The Madhouse jazz records were so much better).  However, time and time again, AIR continues to release what you expect them to.
 
Now, you might take my last statement as a bit of an indictment on the record, but it’s actually not.  With AIR’s laid back, sometimes ethereal style, it’s a good formula that I’m glad that they adhere to on a consistent basis.  It’s like my bread comment above.  If AIR suddenly put out a hard rock album, it might be a great hard rock album, but I’m just going to be disappointed that I didn’t get that album to which I can relax at the end of a hard day.
 
Like any of their records, I’m always fond of how they pepper in a couple of vocal songs -in this case, “So Light Is Her Footfall,” “Heaven’s Light,” part of and “Sing Sang Sung,”- within the confines of a mostly instrumental album, and how while they are very much an ambient electronic type of band there always is some sort of acoustical element to balance everything out so well.  It’s so easy to fall into a trap if you’re an electronic instrumental band, and that trap is to make the tracks almost indiscernable from one another after a while.  The peppering of the vocal tracks and the acoustic sound influence helps break that monotony for AIR.
 
Besides the vocal tracks listed above, some highlights include “Do The Joy,” “Be A Bee,” “Eat My Beat,” and “African Velvet,” which takes the album in for a smooth landing.
 
3.5 stars out of 5 ~Mark Massi