Air

More apt to cite stately rock paragons Burt Bacharach and Brian Wilson as their inspirations than Derrick May or Aphex Twin, the French duo Air gained inclusion into the late-’90s electronica surge due chiefly to the labels their recordings appeared on, not the actual music they produced. Their sound, a variant of the classic disco sound coaxed into a relaxing prozac vision of the late ’70s, looked back to a variety of phenomena from the period — synthesizer maestros Tomita, Jean-Michel Jarre and Vangelis, new wave music of the non-spikey variety, and obscure Italian film soundtracks. Despite gaining quick entrance into the dance community (through releases for Source and Mo’ Wax), Air’s 1998 debut album Moon Safari charted a light — well, airy — course along soundscapes composed with melody lines by Moog and Rhodes, not Roland and Yamaha. The presence of several female vocalists, an equipment list whose number of pieces stretched into the dozens and a baroque tuba solo on one track; all of this conspired to make Air more of a happening in the living room than the dancefloor.Though Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel both grew up in Versailles, the two didn’t meet until they began studying at the same college. Dunckel, who had studied at the Conservatoire in Paris, played in an alternative band named Orange. One of Dunckel’s bandmates, Alex Gopher, introduced Godin into the lineup. While Gopher himself departed (later to record for the Solid label), Dunckel and Godin continued on, becoming Air by 1995. During 1996-97, the duo released singles on Britain’s Mo’ Wax (“Modular”) and the domestic Source label (“Casanova 70,” “Le Soleil Est Prés de Moi”). Though Air often evinced the same ’60s Continental charm as Dimitri from Paris — due no doubt to the influence of Serge Gainsbourg — the duo had little in common musically with other acts (Daft Punk), in the wave of French electronica lapping at the shores of Britain and America during 1997. That same year, Air remixed Depeche Mode and Neneh Cherry, and joined French musique concrete popster Jean-Jacques Perrey for a track on the Source compilation Sourcelab 3. Signed to Virgin, Air released their debut album Moon Safari in early 1998. The singles “Sexy Boy” and “Kelly Watch the Stars” became moderate hits in Britain, and earned airplay on MTV. Later that year, Godin and Dunckel mounted an ambitious tour throughout Europe and America, though they had originally decided to forego live appearances. Their early singles were collected in 1999 under the title Premiers Symptomes; the duo’s soundtrack to the Sofia Coppola film The Virgin Suicides followed in early 2000.