Air
Love 2
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AMG Review of Love 2
Heather Phares
All Music GuideFor part of Air's Pocket Symphony tour, Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin played shows with only drummer Joey Waronker as support, forcing the band to strip its songs down to their essences. They stick with that lineup on Love 2, which delivers some of the most Air-like music to the band's name, and with good reason: this is the first time Dunckel and Godin have produced their own album. The duo tends to follow its more ambitious work with more accessible material and Love 2 is no exception, replacing Pocket Symphony's exotic, experimental bent with a renewed emphasis on the pair's quintessential sound. Godin and Dunckel dig deep into their arsenal of vintage electronic gear, topping those burbles, buzzes, and whooshes with some strings here and a few fuzzed-out guitars and basslines there. Above all, atmosphere is the focus, and early on, the album finds Air at their most confectionary: "Love" is irresistibly pretty, offsetting a glockenspiel that sparkles like grains of sugar with brisk shakers. From there, Love 2 sweeps away any remnants of Pocket Symphony's expansive melancholy with concentrated happiness -- these are some of Air's most lighthearted songs since Talkie Walkie. "Be a Bee," with its aptly buzzing and hovering synths and spy movie theme guitars, could be one of the most stylish novelty pop songs ever. However, the album is often at its best when Air give listeners more in the way of vocals and hooks. The elegantly psychedelic "So Light Is Her Footfall" and the hazy soft rock sunbeam that is "Sing Sang Sung" expand on the band's pop side just enough, while "Heaven's Light" crystallizes the gorgeous retro-futuristic sci-fi romance Air have crafted since their Premiers Symptomes days. Indeed, Love 2's title and album artwork -- which features the duo sitting by the shore gazing pensively into the mid-distance -- play up Air's image as makers of mood music extraordinaire, albeit with a bit of an ironic wink. The music does just as deft a job of negotiating the fine line between sophistication and schmaltz; Love 2's centerpiece, "Tropical Disease," has it both ways, going from dramatic to melodramatic to playful and back again as it covers rippling pianos, slightly goofy-sounding flutes, and a decidedly seductive coda. Dunckel and Godin add just a little tension and darkness to the album's sweetness and light as it unfolds, especially on "Eat My Beat," an impressive showcase for the immediacy Waronker's drumming brings to all of these songs. Air remain a deceptively subtle band, and repeated listens to Love 2 reveal that Godin and Dunckel aren't just remaining true to their aesthetic here, but that even a smaller-scale album from the duo has plenty of wit and surprises to offer.
Air: Love 2
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Air, would you believe it, are on their sixth studio album and have been creating their mix of down-tempo electronica and ambient French-pop for nearly fifteen years now. From the elegance of 1998's Moon Safari and 2004's Talkie Walkie to the confused disappointment of the 2007's Pocket Symphony, the pair have had their fair share of musical ups-and-downs over their decade and a half together as m
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Air: Love 2
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Air, would you believe it, are on their sixth studio album and have been creating their mix of down-tempo electronica and ambient French-pop for nearly fifteen years now. From the elegance of 1998's Moon Safari and 2004's Talkie Walkie to the confused disappointment of the 2007's Pocket Symphony, the pair have had their fair share of musical ups-and-downs over their decade and a half together as m
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Love 2 love you baby....
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New. Air. 10/6. Love 2.New albums from Air AND Zero 7? My summer is perking up...
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MOG it up!
Air: New Album Love 2 Out October
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Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin, will release their fifth studio album Love 2 on October 5th. Nestled in the leafy backstreets of northern Paris, Atlas provided a creative haven for the band to produce these twelve new songs, which they wrote, performed, recorded and produced by themselves. These recording sessions again saw the band handling [...]
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Air announce new album Love 2
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Veteran French pop duo Air will be releasing their fifth studio album Love 2 on October 6th via Astralwerks. First track to be released will be “Do the Joy” on July 7th, and “Sing Sang Sung” will be the real first single on August 25th. Air handled all vocals on this album themselves, unlike Pocket [...]
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Air's Love 2 Artwork
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We posted THIS last week about French duo Air and their newest upcoming LP Love 2 and though it's track-listing was available, it's artwork eluded us at the time. Now, the front-cover has been confirmed and if you just so happen to look at the bottom of this very article, you will indeed see said artwork.
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Air's Love 2 Album Art Revealed
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The building blocks of perennial Stereogum favorites Air's followup to Pocket Symphony are slowly coming together. This next set of chilled and gauzy earphone candy is due this fall under the title Love 2. That's Nicolas and JB looking fittingly mellowed and pensive on the cover. Also, the duo's...
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Video: Air - Sing Sang Sung
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AIrs newest record 'Love 2' is due on October 6th and so, in the run up to the release, the French duo have made a little video for one of their new tracks. The song is Sing, Sang, Sung a sugary, mellowed slice of Airs lounge musicality and is possibly the most inoffensive thing our ears have heard all year.
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Air Announce Love 2
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Though we've always preferred the earlier workings of French duo Air, it still filled us with an odd excitement when we heard that a new record was in the works. Going by the name of Love 2, the upcoming LP marks the pairs fifth musical outing and will hit shelves on October 6th via the Astralwerks label.
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Air’s ‘Love 2′ Out Next Week
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AIR is back with their first release since 2007’s Pocket Symphony. Their new album Love 2 is out next week. Check out a video of the group performing their new single Sing Sang Sung at their Youtube page.AIR - Sing Sang SungThe new album is apparently inspired by Philip Glass and David Byrne’s art/music piece [...]
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Air - Love 2 (new album / video) (Mixed Media)
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AirLove 2(Astralwerks)Releasing: 6 OctoberSONG LIST01 Do the Joy02 Love03 So Light Is Her Footfall04 Be a Bee05 Missing the Light of the Day06 Tropical Disease07 Heaven's Light08 Night...
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Air – Sing Sang Sung
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The French duo Air will return with a new album, their fifth to be precise, called Love 2. The only help they've had with making it has been from LA drummer Joey Waronker, as the band handled all the vocal duties themselves on this LP. Sing Sang Sung, the first single to be taken from [...]
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