Herald Rating: * * *
(Virgin)
Review: Russell Baillie
The impeccable French retro electro duo of Nicolas Godin and Jean Benoit Dunckel, who came to notice with their Moon Safari album of 1998, got the job of scoring Sofia (daughter of Francis Ford) Coppola's directorial debut.
The film is set in the 70s, and
the resulting album reinforces the notion no end, with a soundscape suggesting Wish You Were Here and Dark Side of the Moon-era Pink Floyd as well as the early ambient dabblings of Brian Eno.
That also means it is short on actual songs and long on celluloid-supporting sonic dabbles, the hushed opening ballad Playground Love being the only verse-chorus effort here.
Elsewhere, both Bathroom Girl and Dirty Trip suggest a missing part to Floyd's Shine on You Crazy Diamond. And the closing Suicide Underground - complete with a slowed-down voiceover explaining the movie's premise - could be a tale from the Dark Side ... so it has its moments but it really only shows that if all else fails, Air could be just what the world needs: a better class of Pink Floyd tribute band.
