Air
10 000 Hz Legend

Dreams are the expression, in sleep, of thoughts that consciousness tends to deny and not accept, those thoughts that act in the dark part contained within our self, the unconscious, and try to penetrate right into consciousness itself. But it can also happen that those thoughts can act within us in the form of BPM, beats capable of getting under your skin, angelic synthesizers, fairy-tale atmospheres, hypnotic voices, soft guitars, and all around something confusing that revolves around us. And perhaps this is how the concept of the word "dream" can resurface. This CD is proof of it.

Everyone knows that for the French duo Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin, also known as Air, making another album like that gem called "Moon Safari" was certainly not an easy task, just as it was not easy to continue such a lunar journey, among silvery women, whether they are called Kelly, star worshipers, or Penelope, continuously waiting for their beloved's return, beyond the unknown.

But "10.000 Hz Legend," their fourth studio work, including "Premiers Symptomes" and the soundtrack of the film "The Virgin Suicides," can be considered as a true sequel to "Moon Safari." However, if in the latter there was a well-performed combination of electronic and psychedelia, here the latter prevails more.

Yes, psychedelia. And, along with it, eclecticism. The two key words that revolve around 11 songs. Between classy pop (the melancholic and "spelling" "People In The City", "How Does It Make You Feel?", the ethereal "Lucky And Unhappy" and the cheerful "The Vagabond" with the crazy Beck singing) and a bit of rock ("Don't Be Light", also sung by Beck, and "Radio #1") it also surprises with small nods to Jethro Tull and kraut-rock, among the duo's many passions ("Radian", "Caramel Prisoner"), schizophrenic electro-acoustic experiments ("Sex Born Poison", with voices by Buffalo Daughter) and even a hallucinated and dazed fake-blues fantasy from a western movie ("Wonder Milky Bitch").

An hour of music that transforms into a dreamlike desire for happiness, a bustling happiness. The desire to relax and at times also to move, bringing out our most electronic side, which cannot fail to reside in each of us ("Electronic Performers").

All this is "10.000 Hz Legend," a masterpiece on all fronts, one of the highest peaks reached not only by Air but also by modern electronic music in general.

Afterwards there will be albums perhaps a bit manneristic, but still containing tracks absolutely worthy of mention ("Cherry Blossom Girl", "Run", "Alpha Beta Gaga", "Once Upon A Time"...), but it will not be easy to reach the levels of the early works again. Lack of inventiveness? Or the excessive mannerism mentioned above?

This is unknown. Meanwhile, while waiting to find out sooner or later, let's close our eyes and travel...