No it's not out yet, you can sit down.

I was watching a (great) show on TV (a french channel, France 2, it
ended a few minutes ago) which was centered around David Bowie and its
(awesome) new album, Reality.

But David Bowie had asked for Air to be present, because he thinks
they are the very essence of french music nowadays (to which I can
only agree). So, they did not stay long on screen, but they were
interviewed for a couple of minutes about their new album, and they
played a track of it live !!

So to get the facts out, the album is coming out next January (so
long!), but it's already finished. They recorded it in their home
studio on Paris, _just JB and Nicolas_, with no other
participant. Nigel Goldrich, famous for his producing Radiohead and
Beck among others, and the latest Air installment (City Reading), will
mix it. He was the one who convinced them to sing themselves and
without vocoders or other vocal devices.

They decided to make an album on their own after the "pharaonic"
nature of 10'000 Hz Legend, which was a big "orgia of sounds" where
they managed to play with all their friends and other artists (ok you
know the story, Jason Falkner, Brian Reitzell, Roger Manning JR, Beck,
Justin Medal-Johnson, etc). They wanted this one to be less
exhuberant, more personnal I guess, so both of them worked alone with
their guitar, synths and rhythmboxes (basically, just as they did for
all the album except 10'000 Hz Legend).

That's what we more or less knew from previous interviews, including
one in the Rock & Folk magazine where they were interviewed about City
Reading.

There is no title for the album yet, and they won't talk about it
anyway. It will be 10 songs long, with an extra song for the Japanese
version.

Right, I think I've made a short yet complete summary of what could
have interested you in the interview.


Now the song.

It's called "Another Day", and as said above way played by Nicolas
(acoustic guitar) and JB (synth) alone. They used a computer for the
tracks they did not play. JB was the only one singing, without a
vocoder. Simple lyrics (as usual), yet effective (as usual).

I think that song really showed the minimal (as in "pure", not as in
"simplistic") direction they might have taken for this new album. It's
no longer gorgeous massive sounds as in 10'000 Hz Legend, it's not
really that '70 prog-rock 'tron-ed sound from The Virgin Suicides
either, and neither is it as mellow, liquid and vintage as Moon Safari
and Premiers Symptomes.

I think the best way to describe it is to take City Reading minimal
constructions and to replace that dark, heavy atmosphere with Moon
Safari's lightness and sensuality (although the latter was actually
present in all their albums). The melody is simple, and so is the
overall, yet the songs builds those smart tensions that make Air such
a great group. The song was very melancholy.

David Bowie seemed to like it, so did I.


I can't wait 'till January to listen to the full album, yet I think
you are priviledged not to have heard it because you'll have the full
surprise when you'll eventually buy it ;-)


I hope you found that interesting, and if you didn't, you should have
deleted this email before reaching its end anyway ;-P


Good night folks (2 AM here) !

--
Sebastien Cevey <seb@...>
Cine7.Net - Milcis.Net - ProgramPlay.Org
Jabber: theefer@... - ICQ: 48895760

" The future has arrived; it's just not evenly distributed. "
William Gibson