There’s nothing easy about the laid-back cool of Air‘s music. On record and for film soundtracks, the French electronic duo turns distressed dreams into symphonies plucked from cotton candy clouds — sonically light, but heavy with emotion. Yet to see Air’s members perform live, everything seems so effortless.
Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel have been looking back on Air’s catalog recently, extending the anniversary tour of their debut album. Surrounded by synths and keys bearing Air’s block-letter logo, the band opens this Tiny Desk with “Le Voyage de Pénélope,” the piano-driven, interstellar fantasia from 1998’s Moon Safari. Talkie Walkie‘s “Cherry Blossom Girl,” a sweet love song with slightly sinister undertones, gets stripped back to acoustic guitar, a sparse Rhodes melody and close harmonies.
Officially released 25 years ago, Air’s score for The Virgin Suicides, Sofia Coppola’s first film, still captures a specific, yet universal nostaglia. In her essay for NPR Music, writer Paula Mejía says the soundtrack has “become a reference point for film composers aiming to create more than just an atmosphere for characters to inhabit.” Watching Air perform “Highschool Lover” and “Dirty Trip” behind the Desk, a collective memory occurs — not from the movie itself, but our own teenage selves re-living crushes, awkward encounters and impossible-to-describe feelings.
SET LIST
- “Le Voyage de Pénélope”
- “Cherry Blossom Girl”
- “Highschool Lover”
- “Dirty Trip”
MUSICIANS
- Nicolas Godin: piano, guitar, bass, vocals
- Jean-Benoît Dunckel: keys, piano, vocals
- Louis Delorme: drums, keys, vocals
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Robin Hilton
- Director/Editor: Maia Stern
- Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
- Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Sofia Seidel
- Audio Engineer: Hannah Gluvna
- Production Assistant: Dora Levite
- Photographer: Maansi Srivastava
- Tiny Desk Team: Kara Frame, Ashley Pointer
- Series Editor: Lars Gotrich
- Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Executive Director: Sonali Mehta
- Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton
