// Essential Listening

Imagine every romanticised ideal of French coolness youve ever had – effortless sophistication and style – and filter that through spacey, loungey dream pop. The result is Moon Safari, the 1998 debut album from Versailles electronic music duo Air.

This lush and absorbing LP is 45 minutes of starry-eyed, downtempo mood pieces. From the watery nostalgia La Femme DArgent, to the funky vocoder anthem that is Sexy Boy, to gentle seductiveness of “All I Need” and You Make it Easy (both featuring Beth Hirsh), every single track on Moon Safari feels lush and luxuriant. Buoyed by soothing melodies and multifarious instrumentation (synths, bongos, organs, glockenspiels, harmonicas, among others), Airs debut record remains a gorgeous chill-out triumph.

Although electronica had its fair share of chillout classics prior to the debut of Air, the lion’s share were either stark techno (Warp) or sample-laden trip-hop (Mo’ Wax). But while Air had certainly bought records and gear based on the artists that had influenced them, they didn’t just regurgitate (or sample) them; they learned from them, digesting their lessons in a way that gave them new paths to follow. They were musicians in a producer’s world, and while no one could ever accuse their music of being danceable, it delivered the emotional power of great dance music even while pushing the barriers of what “electronica” could or should sound like. (Never again would Saint Etienne be the only band of a certain age to reveal their fondness for Burt Bacharach.)

The Modulor EP had displayed astonishing powers of mood and texture, but it was Air’s full-length debut, Moon Safari, that proved they could also write accessible pop songs like “Sexy Boy” and “Kelly Watch the Stars.” But it wasn’t all pop. The opener, “La Femme d’Argent,” was an otherworldly beginning, with a slinky bassline evoking Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson and a slow glide through seven minutes of growing bliss (plus a wonderful keyboard solo). The vocoderized “Remember” relaunched a wave of robot pop that hadn’t been heard in almost 20 years, and the solos for harmonica and French horn on “Ce Matin La” made the Bacharach comparisons direct. Unlike most electronica producers, Air had musical ideas that stretched beyond samplers or keyboards, and Moon Safari found those ideas wrapped up in music that was engaging, warm, and irresistible. (via John Bush // AllMusic)

Label: Parlophone
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Repress, 180 Gram
Country: Europe
Reissued: 2015 / Original Release: 1997
Genre: Electronic
Style: Downtempo, Synth-pop

File under: Downtempo