Singles

Air - Sing Sang Sung

Chris Tapley 06/11/2009

Rating: 2/5

The French duo of Jean Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin often get a bad deal, being constantly referred to as poster boys for bland dinner party music since their 1998 break through album Moon Safari. When in fact that album as well as those that followed it contained a wealth of experimentation and interesting amalgams of genre cleverly contorted in to wildly accessible tunes.

It wasn't actually until their last record Pocket Symphony that they slipped in to somewhat dreary and unimaginative territory, perhaps even as a result of their constant description as such. It was pleasant enough but it lacked the vitality that it's predecessors had, that feeling of a bold sonic expedition which pushed their music as far out in to the ether as possible without ever making it the slightest bit difficult to listen to.


If this single were to be believed then their latest album Love 2 is the same. It's 'nice', and I mean that in the most derogatory sense. It's floaty and ethereal with seductive French vocals and the occasional spacey synths interlude, but it's frankly a soul-less caricature of a band that used to be exciting.


Whilst this as a choice of lead single is understandable from a commercial view point it does absolutely no justice to the album which contains arguably some of their most interesting material to date, and certainly some of the darkest. Get the album. Skip this track.