AIR - Moon Safari - 12" LP vinyl 1st First Pressing - 1998 CAR 6644

$

26

From the Chemical Brothers to Massive Attack, electronic artists are no strangers to the power of the female voice, but none has used it to as sexy effect as Air. What's most striking about the group's 10-year-old debut, Moon Safari, in retrospect, isn't that it made art out of fluff (which it did), but that it was the most distinctly feminine album of its kind (and created by two Frenchmen, natch). The obsessive detail of Nicolas Godin and Jean Benoit's sonic dreamscapes give themselves up completely to Beth Hirsch's faux-poetic musings. It's no wonder It girls like Charlotte Gainsbourg and Sofia Coppola were drawn to the band: Hirsch stands just close enough to the mic in “All I Need” so that you can hear her lips smacking together, a technique recycled by Gainsbourg on her Air-produced debut 5:55. Likewise, no one could flatter Coppola's cloistered, porcelain-doll aesthetic better than Air, who wrote the theme song to her Virgin Suicides, which—like the song—is a mood piece about high school romance that's as beautiful as it is agonizing to behold.

Air's name is almost appallingly appropriate. Every sound on the album—from the waterfall intro of “La Femme d'Argent,” to the gently plucked guitar in “All I Need,” to the faint horn hook of “Ce Matin La”—lushly falls into place, escalates, and then dissipates into some kind of slickly produced ether. It's not exactly deep, but the genius of Godin and Benoit is how meticulously they conjure a totally new universe. The keyboard flights of fancy in “La Femme d'Argent” give way to the grungier synths of “Sexy Boy” and Hirsch yearning “to be held and understood” on “You Make It Easy,” as the song sends her off on a wispy breeze. At the same time that it's space-y and breathless, it's also organic and downbeat; at the same time that it's nostalgic, it's also clearly planted in the future. Even if Moon Safari isn't exactly a challenging listen, it's an endlessly gorgeous one. Where the Chemical Brothers' Come with Us is a pounding, acid-induced head trip, Moon Safari is a roofie slipped into your Cosmopolitan.

Moon Safari

Label:

Source ?– 0170 4 66644 17, Astralwerks ?– CAR 6644

Format:

Vinyl, LP, Album 

Country:

US

Released:

16 Jan 1998

Genre:

Electronic

Style:

Future Jazz, Downtempo

Tracklist

Hide Credits

A1

La Femme D'Argent

Flute [Syrinx], Piano, Synthesizer [Korg Ms20, Moog Solo], Vocals – J.B. Dunckel*

Handclaps – Caroline L.*, J.B. Dunckel*, N. Godin*, Alf*

Organ [Solo] – Eric Regert

Synthesizer [Mini Moog], Tambourine, Vocals – N. Godin*

7:08

A2

Sexy Boy

Flute [Syrinx], Electric Guitar, Synthesizer [Korg Ms20, Talk Box], Tambourine – N. Godin*

Flute [Syrinx], Synthesizer [Moog Solo], Vocals – J.B. Dunckel*

Percussion – Marlon*

4:57

A3

All I Need

Acoustic Guitar – P. Woodcock*

Acoustic Guitar, Percussion, Synthesizer [Korg Ms20, Mini Moog] – N. Godin*

Electric Piano [Wurlitzer], Synthesizer [Korg Ms20] – J.B. Dunckel*

Vocals – Beth Hirsch

4:28

A4

Kelly Watch The Stars

Clavinet, Flute [Syrinx], Glockenspiel, Handclaps, Piano, Synthesizer [Korg Ms20, Mini Moog, Moog Solo], Vocoder – J.B. Dunckel*

Glockenspiel, Handclaps, Synthesizer [Casiotone, Moog Bass], Vocoder – N. Godin*

Percussion – Marlon*

3:44

B1

Talisman

Arranged By [Strings], Conductor [Orchestra] – David Whitaker

Electronic Drums [Rhythm Box], Electric Piano [Wurlitzer] – N. Godin*

Percussion – Marlon*

Synthesizer [Korg Ms20, Mini Moog] – J.B. Dunckel*

4:16

B2

Remember

Electric Guitar, Synthesizer [Mini Moog, Roland, Talk Box], Vocoder, Tambourine – N. Godin*

Piano [Wurlitzer], Synthesizer [Korg Ms20], Vocoder, Vocals – J.B. Dunckel*

2:34

B3

You Make It Easy

Acoustic Guitar, Cymbal [Reverse Ride], Electronic Drums [Rhythm Box], Glockenspiel, Harmonica, Percussion, Synthesizer [Vague Moog] – N. Godin*

Arranged By [Strings], Conductor [Orchestra] – David Whitaker

Piano, Synthesizer [Casiotone] – J.B. Dunckel*

Vocals – Beth Hirsch

4:00

B4

Ce Matin La

Acoustic Guitar, Cymbal [Reverse Ride], Electric Guitar, Harmonica, Shaker, Electric Piano [Rhodes Refrain], Vocals – N. Godin*

Arranged By [Strings], Conductor [Orchestra] – David Whitaker

Clavinet, Flute [Syrinx], Synthesizer [Mini Moog], Vocals – J.B. Dunckel*

Tuba – P. Woodcock*

3:38

B5

New Star In The Sky

Acoustic Guitar, Synthesizer [Talk Box], Vocoder – N. Godin*

Mellotron, Piano, Synthesizer [Korg Ms20 [Mini Moog], Vocoder – J.B. Dunckel*

Voice [Laughter] – Enfants Square Burcq

5:38

B6

Le Voyage De Penelope

Clavinet, Handclaps, Synthesizer [Mini Moog] – J.B. Dunckel*

Electronic Drums [Rhythm Box], Handclaps, Piano, Synthesizer [Korg Ms20, Mini Moog] – N. Godin*

3:10

Companies, etc.

• Recorded At – Studio Around The Golf
• Recorded At – Studio Gang
• Recorded At – Abbey Road Studios
• Mixed At – Studio Plus XXX
• Mastered At – The Exchange

Credits

• Artwork [Production] – The Directors Bureau
• Bass – N. Godin* (tracks: A1 to A3, B1 to B6)
• Design – Mike Mills (2)
• Electric Piano [Rhodes] – J.B. Dunckel*
• Mastered By – Nilesh Patel
• Mixed By – Stéphane "Alf" Briat
• Mixed By [Assistant] – Jérôme Blondel
• Organ – J.B. Dunckel* (tracks: A1 to A3, B2, B3, B6), N. Godin* (tracks: A3)
• Producer – Jean-Benoît Dunckel, Nicolas Godin
• Recorded By – Jean-Benoît Dunckel, Nicolas Godin, Stéphane "Alf" Briat
• Recorded By [Assistant] – Jérôme Kerner
• Recorded By [Strings] – Peter Cobbin
• Synthesizer [Solina String Ensemble] – J.B. Dunckel* (tracks: A1, A2, A4 to B6), N. Godin* (tracks: A3, B2)

/credits

Notes

Recorded at "Around the Golf" and at Gang, Paris. Mixed at Plus XXX Studios, Paris. 

Strings recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London. 

Mastered at The Exchange, London.