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Rating: Nine years after Moon Safari, the acclaimed debut of the most pampered French duo by worldwide critics, Air returns with an album that some might call "transitional," although after careful listening, the impression is that Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel are still attached to the formula that made them unique from the start.
The dreamy and sly atmospheres of Sexy Boy and Kelly Watch The Stars - the standout singles contained in Moon Safari - have indicated a path for our duo from which they have rarely deviated. In contrast to the evident autarchic style of the previous album Talkie Walkie, where the two sang all the male parts with limited success, the twelve tracks of Pocket Symphony shape up as a sort of soundtrack for a movie yet to be written.
The most accomplished tracks, although predictable in their development, are the two ballads One Hell Of A Party and Somewhere Between Waking And Sleeping, respectively entrusted to Jarvis Cocker, former singer of Pulp, and to Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy. The press kit for Pocket Symphony, whose release is scheduled for early March, also informs us that Nicolas Godin has learned from an Okinawan master how to delight us with characteristic oriental instruments: a harp (Koto) and a sort of banjo (Shamisen) very popular in Japan.
The single Once Upon A Time is a typical calling card of Air: a piano supporting the entire structure, a drum machine as discreet as it is bland, a lyric that calling it naif is doing it a favor, and the usual mangled English of our heroes. Dunckel and Godin never fail to deliver, and the unsuspecting listeners are left with two alternatives: to abstain from their sterile exercises in style or to be ensnared once again, with the awareness that the Air of nine years ago are now just a faded memory.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Once Upon a Time (05:02)
No time before it's too soon
No time after it's too late
Time's getting old, time's over now
Don't try to be on time
Don't try to run after time
Time's getting on, time's over now
I'm a little boy, you're a little girl
Once upon a time
I'm a little boy, you're a little girl
Once upon a time
Time's getting on, time's over now
I'm a little boy, you're a little girl
Once upon a time
I'm a little boy, you're a little girl
Once upon a time
Time's getting on, time's over now
I'm a little boy, you're a little girl
Once upon a time
I'm a little boy, you're a little girl
Once upon a time
Time's getting on, time's over now
I'm a little boy, you're a little girl
Once upon a time
I'm a little boy, you're a little girl
Once upon a time
Time's getting on, time's over now
06 Left Bank (04:07)
Left Bank
Left bank, I'm waiting for someone
Someone to be my friend
Outside, traffic's running slowly
I hear it from my window
Without you, I'm getting lost
Without you, there's no release
I can't hold the sun
I can't hold the sun
It's raining, love is not around me
How can it get so cold?
Homesick, this is how I feel now
This is how you left me
Without you, I'm getting lost
Without you, there's no release
I can't hold the sun
I can't hold the sun
Without you, I'm getting lost
Without you, there's no release
I can't hold the sun
I can't hold the sun
07 Photograph (03:51)
I would like to own your photograph
The angels cry to have your photograph
As if you were awfully made for life
As fortune favor fools like candle light
I would like to own your autograph
The angels fight to own your photograph
But you reckon on the photograph
Look at you provision on the night
08 Mer du Japon (03:04)
J'en perds la raison
Dans la mer du Japon
J'en perds la raison
Dans la mer du Japon
10 Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping (03:35)
Without blindness, there is no sight
You'd see further if you'd only close your eyes
In unconsciousness I can find peace
Inside prison walls I can find release
There is a place that I have seen
Somewhere between waking and sleeping
Down at the water's edge
Somebody waits for me
Is it too late for me
It's never too late, he says
[Left Channel]
Without blindness, there is no sight
You'd see further if you'd close your eyes
Unblock the failure
[Right Channel]
Without blindness, there is failure
People gather by the river
They were talking
There is a place that I have seen
Somewhere between waking and sleeping
Leaning over the side
Trailing my fingertips
Feeling the water slip
Into the quiet night
Viewed from the wrong end of a telescope
I see myself, so far below
Still and silent, rest in peace
The thread unravels
Merciful release
There is a place that I have seen
Somewhere between waking and sleeping
Now I can almost see
Figures upon the shore
He's gathering in the oars
Where are you taking me
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Other reviews
By Torre Ste
Pocket Symphony is an attempt to return to the roots, and if this is the starting point, they are not doing badly.
All the songs keep the listener relaxed and the seven-minute tracks that could bore are gone, replaced by short and good compositional trials.
By Lesto BANG
N O T H I N G. Banal music.
Ok AIR, you joked and I took the bait like a fool.
By Ilpazzo
Pocket Symphony is a small POCKET MASTERPIECE!
The absolute masterpiece of the album is 'ReadHead Girl' — pure melancholic beauty that hypnotizes delicately like the song of sirens.
