i’ve not read much critical response to the new air album but i’m guessing a lot of it is negative or at least “blah” - i think there is something vaguely easy listening or ’smooth’ about air that leads to a lot of people dismissing their work as being ‘nice’ but not interesting. but then there’s statements like this - “With Pocket Symphony I’ve finally come to terms with the cold, hard fact that a return to the sounds of Moon Safari is unlikely. I’ve also stopped hating them for that.” what a toss. hey man, if you want moon safari again, go and buy yourself a second copy, voila. anyway, to my ears this record heads well and truly back into the territory explored by moon safari - the experimental peaks and gaps that littered 10000hz legend & talkie walkie have been smoothed over, there’s no “radio number one” or “run” on this album, nothing to jar the listener out of the smooth consistent flow of characteristic spaced-out ‘air-ness’. and there’s the same spacey atmospherics, kraut-rocky grooves & jazzy turns that characterise every air release (but especially their debut), here on pocket symphony sounding better than ever, better production, more varied and interesting instrumentation, and more focused songwriting. its a cruisy listen, & you can engage with it at any time or else just let it happen around you, just like moon safari. listen to pocket symphony opener “space maker” back to back with moon safari opener “la femme d’argent” - they are like the same person, la femme d’argent the naive unfocused younger version, space maker the wizened, focused, distilled older version. i mean thats whats kind of nice about moon safari, its naive, a band just starting out (i guess), but you can’t compare it to pocket symphony which is so fully realised and crystalline. AIR! you know, if you want to hear moon safari, get it off the shelf and put it on - that record has already been made, its not going to be made again. for the record i never really understood why people were so down on stereolab either, stereolab reviews always seemed obsessed with “yeah this stuff is ok, but why can’t they just make music like they did at the start?” - like they’d settled into some complacent rut because they actually started making interesting music. i went and bought old stereolab albums based on these reviews - they sucked! bring on “sound dust” & “margerine eclipse”!

incidentally, the new air track left bank really makes me think of nick drake’s river man, i don’t know why, i think its that i just love the sound of an acoustic guitar shifting from major chords to minor chords (and back again) in unexpected ways or ways that “shouldn’t work” but they do.

why are world cricket’s minnows (ireland, canada, united arab emirates, whatever) always called minnows?

Video: Air - Once Upon A Time