thevoid99's Full Review: Love 2 * by Air (2~France)
With French music getting attention thanks to the likes of Phoenix, Daft Punk, and Sebastian Tellier. The electronic duo Air is among those to help bring in the new wave of French pop since the late 1990s with their 1998 seminal debut album Moon Safari. While the group, consisting of Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin, has continued to maintain success over the years including creating soundtrack contributions to the films of Sofia Coppola. The group has created albums that garnered critical acclaim and modest sales but none has reached the heights of Moon Safari. In 2009, the band has returned with their sixth studio album that breaks away from the richer collages styles from their collaborator and producer Nigel Godrich for a more laid-back, atmospheric record called Love 2.
Written, produced, and performed by Air, Love 2 is an album that emphasizes less on experimental ideas and more on simpler pop songs with dabbles of experimentation. Featuring drum tracks by regular collaborator Joey Waronker, it's an album that is more about a laid-back atmosphere with elements of sci-fi and love as it's a record that has the group not trying to delve into heavy experimentation. While it's not up to par with some of their earlier albums, Love 2 does show that Air is not sitting on their laurels and still having some fresh ideas.
The opening track Do The Joy is an instrumental track that opens with droning guitar and bass melodies with smooth, tapping drum fills that is followed by a wailing synthesizer and swirling electronic textures. Featuring a piano accompaniment, it's a soothing instrumental piece that includes distorted speeches in the background and layers of synthesizer melodies. Love is a hypnotic, throbbing track led by wobbly bass lines and soothing beats as it's partially sung through a vocoder as it's a simple love song. With a flourishing piano track in the mix, a loopy synthesizer melody appears to help close the track. So Light Is Her Footfall is a mid-tempo track that features a soothing synthesizer, flourishing pianos, smooth rhythms, and a washy guitar track as it's sung in a calm vocal presentation. Featuring dreamy lyrics, it's a song that emphasizes on its cool atmosphere.
Be A Bee is an upbeat instrumental track with bouncy rhythms, swooning synthesizers, and melodic guitar riffs that play through as a fast-paced track with soft vocals in the background. Missing The Light Of The Day is a bouncy, mid-tempo track with warbling synthesizers and soothing piano melodies as it's sung in a robotic vocal style with a female vocalist. With shimmering sounds of harp-like keyboard tracks, it's one of the most inventive cuts the band has created. The six-minute, forty-seven track Tropical Disease is a somber, dreamy track led by a seductive saxophone solo with dabbles of flourishing pianos. Featuring a bouncy rhythm and a swooning synthesizer, it's a rich, elegant cut with fast-paced percussion tracks in the background and a flute solo that drives the track until the rhythm slows down for a smooth, jazz-like feel as vocals are heard in the last third of the track.
Heaven's Light is an upbeat track with throbbing bass lines, soft beats, and a melodic piano track with a soothing synthesizer accompaniment. With a swanky guitar spurt in the background to accompany the vocals, it's a dreamy song that includes a solo by a whistling keyboard that swirls through. Night Hunter arrives as an instrumental track with a thumping bass line with bouncy beats as a wailing synthesizer appears with bendy wails that is followed by another synthesizer and a flourishing piano. The album's first single Sing Sang Sung is a swooning, upbeat track with whistling synthesizers, throbbing bass lines, and thumping beats. Featuring soft, dreamy vocals, it's a playful song that features melodic guitars in the background as it's one of Air's finest singles.
Eat My Beat is a bouncy, upbeat instrumental track with bopping bass lines and beats that is followed by flourishing pianos and menacing guitar riffs. With wailing synthesizers playing through, soothing chimes appear along with shaking tambourines in this excellent instrumental track. You Can Tell It To Everybody is a smooth, mid-tempo track with chugging, bouncy beats and warbling guitar melodies that is followed by a swooning keyboard. Vocals appear in a calm, soothing presentation for this laid-back, ethereal track. The album closer African Velvet is a smooth, mid-tempo instrumental track with bouncy beats and swooning bass lines that is followed by a melodic guitar track. With a soft keyboard track in the background, a saxophone solo appears to follow everything else in this nice, atmospheric closer.
While it may not have the consistency or innovations of some of their earlier work, Love 2 is a solid, well-crafted album by Air. While some fans might feel the band isn't doing anything innovative, they will be glad that they still have some new ideas. Though it's a more of a laid-back album that's meant to be a soundtrack for amore. It does what it's told as Air prove that they're still a vital act and practically outlasting some of their contemporaries. In the end, Love 2 is stellar album from Air who still have some juice left in their sound.
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