CD Review: Air

By Aaron Davis (for JHWeekly.com)Break out your astronaut suit for the galactica adventure you’ll have with Air’s Le Voyage Dans La Lune, a set inspired from French director George Méliès's silent 1902 film, A Trip to the Moon (which also influenced The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight” MTV video in 1996). Pick up any of Air’s previous releases and it’s a niche, electronica sci-fi listen, but this takes a step away from more sparse arrangements into heavy cosmos.The downbeat hip-hop drums of “Astronomic Club” reminds me of Portishead with echoing timpani fills and a soaring synth. Beach House's Victoria Legrand is a sublime addition to “Seven Stars,” introducing one of the album’s few vocal moments.Where Air’s 1998 debut, Moon Safari, was timelessly light and evocatively dulcet, there’s a heavier hand to the instrumentation of Le Voyage Dans La Lune. Despite some clutter, the bottom line seeks the epic via jingles, psychedelia and mathematical arrangements. To be consumed with a glass of wine, dark lighting, and a recliner.