Air - Pocket Symphony

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Air are set to release the follow-up to 2004's Talkie Walkie on March 6 on Astralwerks. The record is titled Pocket Symphony, features artwork by contemporary artist Xavier Veilhan, and was recorded with Nigel Godrich over the last year and a half. Both Air members, Nicolas Godin and JB Dunckel (aka Darkel), sing on the album, and Jarvis Cocker and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon contribute vocals as well.

 

Pocket Symphony also incorporates some of the Japanese instruments Godin recently learned to play from an Okinawa master musician: the koto (also referred to as a Japanese floor harp) and the three-string, banjo-like shamisen. However, a press release claims that "conventional instruments continue to play a great role" in the duo's music.

 

Air plan to spend much of 2007 on tour. They'll hit Europe in the spring and America in May, with festival appearances scheduled for the summer, and more shows throughout the fall and winter.

 

Tracklist:

 

01 Space Maker

02 Once Upon a Time

03 Hell of a Party

04 Napalm Love

05 Mayfair Song

06 Left Bank

07 Photograph

08 Mer du Japon

09 Lost Message

10 Somewhere Between Walking and Sleeping

11 Redhead Girl

12 Night Sight

i dont get too pumped over guest vocalists on an air album

i do, however, get pumped up over nigel godrich

let's see what happens. talkie walkie was good, 10,000 mhz was shit (imo), moon unit safari was fantastic . . . virgin suicides i havent heard compeltely . . . so what's gonna happen with this one? we shall see!

  Fred McGriff said:

so what's gonna happen with this one? we shall see!

in the meantime you should check out that charlotte gainsbourg album i posted yesteday.. largely the same list of collaborators and it works pretty well.

  Fred McGriff said:

talkie walkie was good, 10,000 mhz was shit (imo), moon unit safari was fantastic

Completely agree with your statement Fred. Virgin Suicides is good, not mind-blowing, but some nice variations on a common theme. Looking forward to seeing them live!

yes

Good news.

I personally consider Charlotte Gainsbourg last album an Air album, sounding exactly like Talkie Walkie.

who/what is charlotte gainsbourg?

i'm not into the whole guest vocalist thing at all. just give me some sweet tunes without the cheesy affected vocals.

i loved Premiers Symptomes and Moon Safari, after that, meh

but agreed on godrich, so yeah.

  Fred McGriff said:

who/what is charlotte gainsbourg?

Daughter of this dude- Serge Gainsbourg, a famous French singer.

japanese floor harp, lol

talkie walkie is my favorite air album..................we will see, i second this notion.

i still have to go with moon safari ... they literally threw out their old instruments after they made that album, apparently to force themselves into a new musical direction ... but i kind of liked that direction. they have yet to top la femme d'argent

Can't wait to hear this. Always a big fan of whatever they come up with...

  The Green Kingdom said:

  Fred McGriff said:

who/what is charlotte gainsbourg?

Daughter of this dude- Serge Gainsbourg, a famous French singer.

he once performed a duet called 'lemon incest' with her. brrr.

this could be great, i have a predispoisition towards all things jarvis. plus a good vibrations reference in the title.

i look forward to this, ps moon safari is mediocre

this album is sick \m/

premier symptomes is the only Air that grabbed me,.

Well this is certainly boring.

After giving this a few more listens a few tracks are starting to stand out, but it is still boring.

It sounds like they spent all of their energy focusing on production and not melody. The whole album just sounds like the soundtrack to a French 70's soft core porn film than an Air record. I do however enjoy Redhead Girl, which sounds like a recycled version of Alone in Kyoto.

I love the shit out of this. I think Air have pulled off another success.

really looking forward to this one! talkie walkie was really nice and Nigel is the man on the boards.

this album seriously sucks... premiers symptoms is the only thing worth it