Air - Pocket Symphony

Indulgent homage (of sorts) to Japanese instruments

Air’s debut, Moon Safari, set the template for shampoo advert music and continuity soundbeds the world over. But there was no escaping the fact it was stunning. Wholly cohesive, free of filler and pop star attitude, it had an innocence that the world fell in love with. A debut up there with the greatest ever.

Sadly, much of this, their sixth album proper, tries to replicate that artistic success (the bassline of opener Space Maker is a direct copy of MS’s La Femme D’Argent), yet fails dismally. The lightness of touch that made earlier works such as Venus, Sexy Boy and countless others so irresistible is gone, replaced by indulgent experimentation with traditional Japanese instruments and flat melodies. Even guest vocals from Jarvis Cocker and The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon can’t enliven things. In fact, the latter’s offering, Somewhere Between Waking & Sleeping, sounds like substandard Maroon 5. It’s really that bad.

Little here puts its immaculately coiffured head about the retro-styled parapet. At a push you’d say Cocker’s offering was the best track, cunningly bleak as it is in its outlook and worldweariness. But, sadly, it seems Air are scraping the barrel. A great tragedy; let’s hope it’s a temporary blip.

Virgin | CDV 3032

Reviewed by Jake Kennedy
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