Air mark 25 years since landmark electronica album 'Moon Safari'
In January 1998, two previously unknown French musicians named Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel released their first album together. "Moon Safari" soon became a massive success and turned the duo into stars.
About a quarter of a century later, Air's "Moon Safari" is considered one of the most influential works of the electronic genre.
To mark the 25th anniversary, Air are playing the groundbreaking album live in full for the first time on tour. They are also releasing an extended deluxe edition with lots of bonus material.
"Moon Safari is about the nostalgia for our childhood," said Godin in a recent interview with British newspaper The Times.
"In the 70s they told us that by the year 2000 we would all be in spaceships and we believed them. We imagined that by the time we were 30 we would be living in space. Then it didn't happen, so 'Moon Safari' was a way for us to go back to that vision"
The predominantly instrumental album is a dreamy musical journey that sounds like a futuristic space fantasy from the 1970s - distantly related to Christian Bruhn's music for the science fiction animated series Captain Future.
Air mixes electronic and organic sounds, soft, analogue synthesizers, warm guitar sounds and occasional vocal melodies to create a wonderfully light, relaxed feel-good collection of songs.
According to Godin and Dunckel, their musical influences include Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, John Barry, Ennio Morricone, Burt Bacharach and Portishead.
Their fusion of easy listening, atmospheric ballads and psychedelic sounds creates a fantastic soundscape.
From the dreamy "La femme d'argent" to the danceable hit "Sexy Boy" and the ballad "All I Need" sung by Beth Hirsch to "Le voyage de Pénélope", it's a rare album where each of the 10 songs really is a gem.
"Moon Safari", which was recorded in a small flat in the Montmartre neighbourhood of Paris, is a fantastic album and rightly appears again and again in lists of the best electronica and 90s albums.
The "Moon Safari - 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition", which is now being released a year late, contains remixes, interesting demos and live recordings on a second CD.
Highlights include a live cover of the legendary Funkadelic classic "Maggot Brain" and the live version of "J'ai dormi soul l'eau" from Air's brilliant, but initially ignored debut EP "Premiers Symptômes".
A Blu-ray also includes the original album in Spatial Dolby Atmos and Mike Mills' documentary film "Eating, Sleeping, Waiting & Playing" from the first Air tour in 1998. The "Moon Safari - 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition" is a successful new edition for fans. However, the original songs will remain a treat no matter which edition you listen to.
