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Air - Pocket Symphony - Tiscali Music Reviews
Air - Pocket Symphony
5th March 2007
Air make their return with their new album 'Pocket Symphony'.
Made up of 12 songs that were recorded over the last 18 months and produced by long time partner Nigel Godrich, features vocals by Dunckel and Godin themselves but also from Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy).
Air once again achieve that rare supernova of artistic vision that dares to reconcile palpable, unapologetic ambience with unpretentious soulful simplicity. They create the alternate now, an environment that begs escapism without denying humanity.
While conventional instruments continue to play a great role, Air have fashioned several tracks from the new album with the addition of Far East classical instruments which Godin learnt to play from an Okinawa master - namely the Koto (usually referred to as a Japanese floor harp) and the Shamisen, a 3-stringed instrument which is one of Japan's most popular classical instruments & resembles the banjo.
Working their way throughout the album as musical ricochets, these unearthly sounds of an alien nature add another motif to Air's sonic architecture.
The album is softer, less brittle than previous works, but manages to avoid the easy listening tag that seems to hang over the album like a constant threat.
