Track Listing

1. Space Maker
2. Once Upon a Time
3. One Hell of a Party
4. Napalm Love
5. Mayfair Song
6. Left Bank
7. Photograph
8. Mer du Japon
9. Lost Message
10. Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping
11. Redhead Girl
12. Night Sight

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44087 in Music
• Released on: 2007-03-20
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Enhanced

Album Description
From the creators of the classic albums "Moon Safari" and "Talkie Walkie", Air deliver a career masterpiece, their most seductive and accomplished work to date.

Features guest vocals by Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy).

Includes the single "Once Upon A Time".

Amazon.com
Some bands like to thwart expectations, and Air is one of them. "Spacemaker," the opening of Pocket Symphony, sounds like a cousin to their instrumental retro-lounge "La Femme D'Argent" from 1998's Moon Safari, right down to the electric bass break in the middle. But this isn't a return to their breakthrough sound. "Spacemaker" really does pave the way for an almost classically somnolent outing from the French duo. Air once proclaimed, "In any classical song you can take five seconds of it and make a loop and you make a great pop song with it." I think they took that to heart on an album that echoes Debussy, Bach, and Reich, but which also contains a Beatlesque eclecticism redolent of Revolver. But instead of the Beatles' Indian flourishes, Air look to Japan, using a plucked koto on a couple of tracks, but also a zen garden sense of sonic placement. Although Jarvis Cocker from Pulp and Neil Hannon of Divine Comedy sing on a couple of tunes--adding some emotional gravitas--Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel do most of the vocalizing in their preternatural Munchkins-on-Quaaludes lisp. Air are known for their chilled melancholy, but the mood of Pocket Symphony is introspectively somber. Only "Mer du Japon" rises to a groove, while the rest recline in a luxurious torpor. That mood works especially well on instrumentals like the minimalist cycles of "Night Sight" and the Enoesque "Lost Message," with its circular piano line and ice-sheathed string synthesizers. Pocket Symphony won't yield any pop hits, but it could be the soundtrack to endless rainy afternoons. --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews

Best of 2007: Grows on you
I am happy with "Pocket Symphony". With their 2007 comeback album, the French duo has managed to combine their sound from "Talkie Walkie" with their earlier work, yielding an album that has a crisp electronic sound hovering lush ambient soundscapes in the best Air style ever.

Now, I must admit the first listen to it didn't quite sink in, and there are still (after numerous listens) tracks that I don't enjoy too much ("One Hell of a Party" and "Napalm Love" being the top two). But the rest of the album has so many GREAT moments that it is bound to offer listeners music for the ages. The opening and closing tracks are two such cases, which are among the best music to come out in 2007.

This disc is NOT copy controlled
As a general FYI to all customers, US labels abandoned copy protection technology over a year ago. Several customers have complained about this record not loading in their computer. The disc features OpenDisc technology which is actually just a hidden weblink to an exclusive content area on the band's website. I think they are actually trying to ADD to the experience of buying the CD rather than taking anything away. I loaded my disc onto iTunes with no problem at all. I recommend you have iTunes open when you put the disc into your compuetr drive otherwise the Opendisc feature will launch first.
Musically, well, to me it is some of Air's finest compositions but maybe not their most pop-oriented. They have pretty much given up on the original sounds that brought them acclaim (Fender Rhodes, Moogs, etc) but instead they have matured into fine composers and they are still one of a kind. I appreciate them for that. Too bad your computers can't read them.

Sit back and enjoy... (not for anyone in a hurry)
Ever since Air's instant-classic debut album, 1998's "Moon Safari", the French duo has sought to try and follow up to and meet that high standard. Their output since then has divided the fan base. I, for one, absolutely love the often-maligned 2001's "10,000 Hz Legend" album, but was disappointed with 2004's "Talkie Walkie" album. Now comes the new album.

"Pocket Symphony" (12 tracks, 48 min.) is as atmospheric as Air will get while not making a movie soundtrack. The instrumental opener "Space Maker" sets the stage. First single (in the UK--can you imagine Air getting a single released in the US?) "Once Upon a Time" is a beautiful dreamscape. Jarvis Cocker is the vocalist on "One Hell of a Party", which reminds me almost of cabaret-style music. Another instrumental "Mayfair Song" flowes into "Left Bank", bringing the duo back home. "Mer du Japon" ironically enough does not feature some of the Japanese sounds found on several other tracks here (such as the beautiful "Somewhere between Waking and Sleeping" and "Redhead Girl"), and in fact I find this song to be somehwat out of whack with the rest of the album. The instrumental closer "Night Shift" is the perfect ending to this album.

Is this album as good as "Moon Safari"? No, but Air may never be that good again, who knows. That said, "Pocket Symphony" is a fine album, which I have been enjoying ever since its release a few months ago. I happen to catch Air at Coachella in late April, and due to technical difficulties they only put on a brief set, which was very disappointing. I'd love to see them again in concert in better circumstances.