16th Jan - Air's Moon Safari

Artist – Album: Air – Moon Safari

Released: 16^th January 1998

Sounds Like: Sonic Musique

Zut alors! It iz time now, wiff ze seize post on zis blog, zat we say bonjour to a lovely leettle groupe français. Mais oui, Air are ze first of our Gallic cousins to grace zese noble pages and so, in honour of zis achievement extraordinaire, I haff decided to write zis edition in a ridiculous and bad French accent.

Moon Safari, Air’s début (sacré bleu, unintentional French!), iz a lesson in how to make ze interesting chillout music. Aside from ze pumping pop rock of ‘Sexy Boy’ et ‘Kelly, Watch the Stars!’, ze tempo iz low and ze atmosphere iz warm and loved up, like a freshly baked baguette. Ze opener ‘La femme d’argent’ glides along its cool bass line, ‘Ce matin-la’ (literally ‘That Morning’ in English), has a sunny, symphonic feel, and ‘Remember’ reminds me of Daft Punk having a quiet moment. The whole album sparkles like ze champagne but a couple of other stand outs are ze Beth Hirsch contributions ‘All I Need’ and ‘You Make It Easy’, both of which she wrote ze lyrics and sang for. Zey have a smokey, almost lounge singer atmosphere, whilst still being served well by Air’s able use of electronica. Her wispy vocals, how you say, compliment ze soundtrack perfectly.

Sometimes ze sense of emptiness and sleight of touch required for zis sort of ambient album can leave ze listener underwhelmed. After all, it iz harder to impress when you’re being laidback. Zat is one of ze reasons zat Eric Cantona was king. But Air showed enough skill, enough va va voom, and left enough humanness on zis first effort zat it iz still as revered today as it was when it was released 15 years ago. Ooh là là, C’est magnifique!

Albumaday... rating:   9/10

1.       La femme d’argent – 7:10

2.       Sexy Boy – 4:57

3.       All I Need – 4:28

4.       Kelly, Watch the Stars! – 3:44

5.       Talisman – 4:16

6.       Remember – 2:34

7.       You Make It Easy – 4:00

8.       Ce matin-là – 3:38

9.       New Star in the Sky (Chanson pour Solal) – 5:38

10.   Le voyage de Pénélope – 3:10

Listen to ‘Kelly Watch the Stars!’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rui0hzN-EFE