Back on soundtrack duty, Air return to form
If getting Air to do a soundtrack for the restoration of 1902 silent movie A Trip To The Moon sounded like a good idea, that’s because it was. The duo from Versailles have a number of excellently spacey, cinematic songs in their back catalogue, so their production fits the theme perfectly. Not only that, but this is some of Air’s best work for years.
It’s perhaps easiest to recognise how well the music fits the film if you see it playing alongside the hand-coloured version, which is watchable below. Like director Georges Méliès, Air manage to fit a lot into a small space; music that can sound chilling like “Moon Fever”, or joyous and upbeat like “Parade”. So often, it’s the little touches that make it. The drums often have a space countdown feel to them, but a more military sound when appropriate (“Sonic Armada” works excellently during the battle with the lunar people). So much seems obvious, but beauty in simplicity is one of Air’s hallmarks.
There’s also a good mix between downtempo and energetic; sometimes within the same song. Air have often spoken about their prog-rock influences and there’s a definite Pink Floyd vibe going on with closing track “Lava”. But best of all for progression is “Seven Stars”, whispery male and female vocals gracing a gentle opening before a thrilling, almost ecstatic ending to best any of the bedroom pop springing up right now.
Maybe the fact that the album was recorded live affects this, but it’s so refreshing to hear the band putting out something so natural-sounding and harmonic, compared to the rigidity and awkwardness of 2009’s Love 2. When something is a bit corny, it’s usually more charming than anything; how could you not chortle at the repeat of “enormous mushrooms” during “Cosmic trip”?
One possible quibble is its length, as the mastery of the band can leave a fan yearning for more than the 32 minutes available. But in fact, it’s more than twice the length of the film, many tracks not even being used for the feature; and the soundtrack achieves the same feat of making much impact with little material.
This album was released by Virgin on 6 February, available from Zavvi.
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