Day 134: Air – Talkie Walkie
Today’s album choice follows the same pattern as yesterday's: it’s a band that I like but an album that I listen to less. Moon Safari is probably the first vinyl I bought for myself and if I’m listening to Air, I’ll listen to either that or just an assortment of their songs. Today, I thought I’d go for another one of their records that I never listen to from beginning to end, Talkie Walkie.
Album cover courtesy of Virgin Records
Air are a French electronic music duo from Versailles formed by Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel. They’ve been active since 1995 and are still going. They became big in 1998 after their aforementioned debut Moon Safari became a hit. They became frequent collaborators with Sofia Coppola and their second release was their score to her film The Virgin Suicides, which I’ve already mentioned I had a very unhealthy fixation to as an adolescent and which probably singlehandedly explains why I turned out like this.
Talkie Walkie is Air’s third studio album and it’s as much tried-and-tested Air as a record from them can be, it’s atmospheric, sexy electronic music that you could imagine accompanying a film or a TV show that slightly makes you feel like you’re floating. It’s hard for me to pick a favourite off the record, I love the instrumental “Mike Mills” or “Surfing On a Rocket” but I also have a real soft spot for the Air songs I remember listening to 20-something years ago, like “Cherry Blossom Girl”, “Alone in Kyoto” and “Run”. I honestly think listening to it now that I might like it even more than Moon Safari.
The sound of the record is almost otherworldly, you just want to sink into it. I’d like to make a meal out of this album and just lay in a darkened room with some sort of aromatherapy set-up and a cover over my eyes and just properly get into it. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time or space for that today, but it’s going on the to do list, it’s a record so good that I went on Etsy to buy one of those yoga eye pillows to fulfil my fantasy.
A Pitchfork reviewer once said “Air is the perfect background music for minimalist architecture design, shagging up against a tree in a field of sunflowers, waiting in line for "Space Mountain," drinking gin upstairs in a 747 (circa 1974), and '60s Swedish industrial documentaries.” That, and really any casual setting and/or special occasion. It’s floaty and ethereal and sounds like what I’d like my ideal life to sound like. I felt a bit woozy from it and thought I was having some sort of a medical incident – 10/10.