Lighthearted songs of love

Just as the Beatles and Rolling Stones were the only two rock bands that mattered for a past generation, there are only two contemporary French bands that anyone outside of France takes seriously: Daft Punk and Air, the pop duo of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel. Air is by far the better-known of the two, thanks to their groundbreaking 1998 hit Moon Safari, which put France once and for all on the future rock-electronica map.

Eleven years later, the Moon Safari album is still a gorgeous listen. Re-released last year in a deluxe, 10-year anniversary package, it remains a lush dreamscape of MIDI playfulness and youthful spunk. The album's biggest hit, "Sexy Boy," is an utterly smooth 20th-century classic, along with others like the lovely "All I Need" and "You Make It Easy" (both featuring Beth Hirsch), and the goofy kitsch-sci-fi tune "Kelly, Watch the Stars!"

Since then, Air has been busy exploring various ways to sing about love. Godin and Dunckel did the luscious and gloomy soundtrack for the film The Virgin Suicides (2000), followed by a string of possibly too self-consciously progressive conceptual albums: 10,000 Hz Legend (2001), a techno-pop disappointment; Talkie Walkie (2004), a softer-edged, spacey Nippon-vibes excursion produced by Nigel Godrich (the producer of Radiohead); and Pocket Symphony (2007), a harmonic epic.

In October of this year, Air released their sixth studio album, Love 2, their strongest outing since Moon Safari. Recorded in their own new studio (Atlas Studios, in Paris) and produced by Godin and Dunckel themselves, Love 2 returns to the themes of love, sex and romance. There is even a song titled "Love" that toys with the pronunciation of the word, as a sound made interchangeably by a machine (a keyboard) and a man. As Air produced the cut, it is hard to differentiate the two.

Then there is the loopy, upbeat, psychedelic ballad "Tropical Disease," with its lyrics sung in a swirl and echo: "Woman, make me feel warm inside ..." "So Light Is Her Footfall" is another standout, with its title taken from a line of prose by Oscar Wilde. "Sing Sang Sung" is a nonsense lullaby with a sweet melody and ringing chimes.

These songs are countered by the treacherous disco beat of "Night Hunter," which sounds like the 1970s California funk-rock band War, mixed with Fela Kuti's beats and wrapped up in Air's special lovers' blend. This track's sound shows the influence of Los Angeles-based Joey Waronker, the drummer on the album and also on the current tour. In fact, Waronker, an acclaimed young drummer and producer, is acknowledged as the third member of Air by Godin and Dunckel.

Overall, as on Moon Safari, it is the utter simplicity and lighthearted techno-goofiness of Air's new songs on Love 2 that best show off their knack for catchy melodies and silly yet intelligent lyrics. More than ever before, Air seems at home displaying their nouveau-disco/Depeche Mode and even New Romantic influences.

Air is, by the way, an acronym for all things considered French, at least by Francophiles: amour, imagination and réve (dream). These words have been the core inspiration for the two suave French bachelors, most obviously on Moon Safari and Love 2.

At this point, one wonders what would happen if Godin or Dunckel ever truly did fall in love. That could end the duo, just as Yoko Ono ended the Beatles. If that happened, it would be a French national disaster. After all, Air is a keyboard-based group, unlike Daft Punk, with their harder electro-beats. So it's not much of a stretch to say that, at this point, Air has earned the right to be called the one and only French band for the world.

Tony Ozuna can be reached at
features@praguepost.com