by Russ Marshalek

The film Lost In Translation is long on scenes of such vivid detachment that they're actually filled with an intense, emotional poignancy. The same can be said of the latest release from Air, Talkie Walkie. The French duo of JB Dunckel and Nicolas Godin is one of Translation director Sophia Coppola's favorite groups (they penned "Playground Love," the theme to Coppola's directorial debut The Virgin Suicides). The tone of her story of loneliness in Japan wraps itself as moss on a tree to what is by far Air's most lushly personal album to date. Reminiscent of the Electro-pastiche of Air's 2001 album, 10,000 Hz Legend, the soft, sweeping subtlety of the opening "Venus" (with its decree of "If you were an illusion I would make it real") sets the tone for the rest of the album's love-from-a-distance theme. Both "Alone in Kyoto" and "Cherry Blossom Girl" ring of Lost In Translation, with the former having actually appeared in the film and the latter echoing with fragments of Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson's strangers-in-a-strange-land relationship. With Talkie Walkie, Air has succeeded in capturing the cool chill that at times accompanies a warm emotion. These ten tracks have a depth even the best moments of Moon Safari only hinted at. This is Air at their essence.

Air - Talkie Walkie
Astralwerks Records

Disc 1:

1. Venus
2. Cherry Blossom Girl
3. Run
4. Universal Traveler
5. Mike Mills
6. Surfin' On A Rocket
7. Another Day
8. Alpha Beta Gaga
9. Biological
10. Alone In Kyoto

1. Electronic Performers
2. J'ai Dormi Sous l'Eau
3. Don't Be Light
4. People In The City
5. La Femme d'Argent