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Moon Safari ( 1998 )7.5
La Femme d’Argent / Sexy Boy / All I Need / Kelly, Watch the Stars / Talisman / Remember / You Make It Easy / Ce Matin La / New Star in the Sky (Chanson Pour Solal) / Le Voyage de Penelope One of 1998’s biggest hypes, French duo Air stormed the charts and numerous best of-lists of both critics and avid music fans. On their debut album, Nicolas Godin (bass, guitar, various keyboards) and Jean-Benoit Dunckel (dozens of keyboards), with the aid of several session musicians, successfully combine dreamy electro-pop, Kraftwerk and Aphex Twin-ambient, campy soundtracks and lush orchestrations into an organic, easy listenable whole. The album’s well-known tracks “Sexy Boy” and “Kelly, Watch the Stars” are examples of the album on its poppiest. The first song is trance-like, has some manipulated robotic-sounding vocals (done by Dunckel and Godin, although they sound female), a melancholy Moog solo and some nonsensical lyrics:“Où sont tes héros aux corps d’athlètes, où sont tes idoles mal rasées, bien habillées” (“Where are your heroes with athlete’s bodies, where are your badly shaven, well-dressed heroes”). The other song (which has a funny ping-pong video clip to accomapny it) is even more catchy, a bouncy pop song you’ll immediately hum along to. |
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| Two other highlights are the lengthy opening track “La Femme d’Argent,” a great example of the duo at their most spacey, given the amount of eerie bleeps, Moog, soft strings, funky bass and hints of 60’s camp. “Talisman” is a marvellous cinematic song that starts off very sober, but adds layer after layer (keys, pulsating bass, synths, drums, etc) until the drama is unleashed (after about 2 minutes). “All I Need” and “You Make It Easy” have seductive vocals by Beth Hirsch, could very well serve as the soundtrack to an arty soft porn movie (is it a dirty mind at work?), and are enjoyable. This last adjective can also be applied to the remainder of the album, but unfortunately there’s not much else to mention. “Remember” is a short little ditty and funny because of the French accent, “New Star in the Sky” is decent lounge-pop to chill-out to, and both “Ce Matin Là” and “Le Voyage de Penelope” are unremarkable cinematic tunes that betray some Morricone-influence, especially the first one with the picked guitar and the use of harmonica. Moon Safari’s best moments are ideally suited for relaxation, since there’s absolutely no ingredient that’s bound to upset you. Moreover, some of the songs could easily qualify as aural treats, because of their gracious elegance, soothing melodies and lush instrumentations. Even the less impressive songs on the album are fun to listen to, but more in a background kind of way. They’re like wall-paper: after a while, you no longer notice the pattern. |
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