Great, thanks a lot for this info.

Glad they're taking the more *personal* approach...

Bye,
Stefan
~~~


Sebastien Cevey wrote on Friday, September 19, 2003:
> 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) !