The French band Air is a duo consisting of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel. They went to school in Versailles, (Lycée Jules Ferry) before forming the band in 1995 . Their critically acclaimed first album Premiers Symptômes was followed by the release of Moon Safari, The Virgin Suicides (soundtrack), 10,000Hz Legend, and Talkie Walkie. In 2007, Air released the album Pocket Symphony and Love 2 in 2009. The Seven Stars Songfacts reports that Air was commissioned to write a new soundtrack for the premiere of the newly restored Georges Méliès’ silent film, Le Voyage Dans La Lune, at the 2011 Cannes film festival. Despite Méliès’ film only having a runtime of 14 minutes, Air still produced enough music to fill an entire album, which will be released as their seventh LP on February 7, 2012.
Although Air’s music is often referred to as electronica or trip-hop and is often found in such bins in record stores, their form of electronic music actually owes more to the synthesizer sounds of the 1970s such as Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis. Other influences that are more readily apparent than house and techno are psychedelic rock pioneers Pink Floyd and krautrockers Tangerine Dream (although there are some echoes of dance music styles in the production). Another influence is French crooner Serge Gainsbourg. Air’s music also has jazz inflections at times, and their ability to improvise is more clearly highlighted in the live arena.
