Spun: Air

By Jordyn Marcellus

French electronic duo Air enthusiastically return with Love 2, their first album since 2007’s Pocket Symphony. The pair, who have been together for over 10 years, are known for creating innovative chill-out electronica with distinct synth-flavoured grooves and electronically treated voices. While not straying too far from their traditional formula, Love 2 provides an interesting set of colourful, laid back tracks.

Opening song “Do the Joy” winds its way into one’s consciousness through increasing layers of shimmering instrumentation, while a robotic voice happily details the end of the world. Even when singing about death and destruction, Air sounds optimistic. Their consistently upbeat pace stretches from the title track, which simply repeats “love” 50 times over a flighty, bright melody, to other lyrically absurd songs such as “Be a Bee” and “Sing Sang Sung.”

Air’s ridiculous lyrics are kept in check by the plentiful and more exploratory instrumental tracks throughout, such as “Eat My Beat” and the seven-minute showcase “Tropical Disease.” Unbound by verses and choruses, they experiment with a greater breadth of sounds, such as synthesized flutes, oboes, glockenspiels and Robert Fripp-inspired guitarwork. Love 2’s light and accessible offering manages to sound futuristic in its production yet charmingly dated in its tone; it’s what the Blade Runner soundtrack might sound like if everyone was substantially more cheerful.