Latest Release
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- 15 MAR 2024
- 9 Songs
- Talkie Walkie · 2004
- Moon Safari · 1998
- Moon Safari · 1998
- Talkie Walkie · 2004
- Premiers Symptômes - EP · 1997
- Moon Safari · 1998
- Premiers Symptômes - EP · 1995
- The Virgin Suicides (Original Motion Picture Score) · 2000
- Moon Safari · 1998
- Moon Safari · 1998
Essential Albums
- Air’s 2004 album is home to some of their most enduring hits; from its opening piano to the rolling surf that swallows “Alone in Kyoto”, it’s also a note-perfect evocation of a fantasy world, with glockenspiel, sitar, vocoder, baroque organ, strings and vintage synths conjuring a magically timeless sound. Their songwriting shines here: The playful “Universal Traveler” is as detailed as a diorama; “Surfing on a Rocket” is almost giddy in its optimism. The album’s less a soundtrack to an unmade film than a blueprint for an imaginary theme park of retro cool and unabashed joy.
- Air’s instant breakthrough of a debut is effortlessly cool—a haze of vaporised vocals, warm synths and stainless steel hi-fi sensibility. Without being as kitschy or (wink, wink) ironic as its spacey “Sexy Boy” single might lead you to believe, the album is an immaculate collection of suave Moog moves and future-disco downtempo. A defining achievement in the chill-out subgenre, it rightfully dominated compilation racks at the turn of the century on the strength of songs like “Kelly Watch the Stars” and “You Make It Easy”.
Albums
- 2021
- 2003
Music Videos
- 2007
- 2007
- 2007
- 2006
Artist Playlists
- Downtempo meets '60s pop—the perfect marriage of retro panache and modern cool.
- The French duo's collabs subtly stretch their downtempo sound.
- Wistful, vintage-inspired sounds given the French Touch.
- French electronic and orchestral pop in a smooth, sensual mix.
- The French duo pay tribute to their groundbreaking 1998 album.
Singles & EPs
More To Hear
- “All I Need” took us to outer space with its dreamy sound.
More To See
About Air
Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin met as architecture students in Versailles, a Parisian suburb whose name is synonymous with opulence, so it’s fitting that their work together as Air would be as sumptuously appointed and meticulously crafted as a palace chamber decked out in gold leaf and plush velvet. Its early EPs slotted loosely between the era’s downtempo and French house. But with Air’s 1998 debut LP, Moon Safari, the duo set itself apart with its space-age fixations and blissfully atmospheric touch. Air’s cinematic inclinations have made the two members key collaborators of director Sofia Coppola—they scored 2000’s The Virgin Suicides and contributed to other films of hers—and yielded unusual projects like 2012’s Le voyage dans la lune, an accompaniment to a legendary silent film from 1902. In 2021, Air celebrated the 20th anniversary of 10 000 Hz Legend with a spatialised version for Dolby Atmos. “That is what we wanted to do in the beginning,” Dunckel told Apple Music. “We want you to listen to this kind of space everywhere.”
- ORIGIN
- Versailles, Île-de-France, France
- FORMED
- 1995
- GENRE
- Electronic