Nicolas Godin studied architecture at the École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Versailles, and Jean-Benoît Dunckel studied mathematics, before forming a band in 1995. Before founding Air (erroneously considered as an acronym of Amour, Imagination, Rêve, which translates to Love, Imagination, Dream), Dunckel and Godin played together in the band Orange with others such as Alex Gopher, Xavier Jamaux and Jean de Reydellet. The former two subsequently contributed to remixes of tracks recorded by Air.
Initially Godin worked alone, recording a demo with members of Funkadelic as his backing band before releasing his first entirely solo effort, "Modular Mix", which featured production by Étienne de Crécy.
Career
After making several remixes for other acts in the first half of the 1990s, Air recorded its first EP, Premiers Symptômes, in 1995. The band released its first album, Moon Safari, in 1998. Its first single, "Sexy Boy", was heavily played on alternative radio stations. The album received universal acclaim and became an international success. In 1999, Air composed the score The Virgin Suicides to Sofia Coppola's debut film of the same name; in 2012, Air wrote its second score to Georges Méliès' Le voyage dans la lune.
Other works
Air has often collaborated with Coppola. Air drummer and former Redd Kross member Brian Reitzell put together the soundtrack to 2003's Lost in Translation, including one original contribution by Air titled "Alone in Kyoto". The soundtrack for Coppola's October 2006 film Marie Antoinette featured a track by Air ("Il Secondo Giorno"). Air wrote and played the music of the album 5:55 by Anglo-French actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, which was released in August 2006. Air has recorded a DJ mix album, Late Night Tales: Air, for Azuli Records' Late Night Tales series. The release was initially scheduled for October 2005, but was delayed several times. It finally was released, complete with a new sleeve design, in September 2006. Darkel, a solo album by Dunckel, was released that same year.
City Reading (Tre Storie Western) (2003) started as an idea for a collaboration with contemporary Italian writer Alessandro Baricco, known for his unusual characterizations and lyrical, poetic style. Baricco contacted Air in summer 2002 with the idea to marry narration of texts from his book City with live original musical accompaniment. The performance premiered live in November 2002 at Rome's Teatro Valle and was deemed such a success that both parties resolved to make a full studio recording.
Influences and musical style
Air is associated with a variety of musical styles: electronica, space pop, dream pop, progressive rock, downtempo, chillout, trip hop, ambient, electronic pop and space rock. Dunckel grew up listening to both classical and electronic music, especially Kraftwerk. He later took an interest in what he called the "English dark rock" of Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division, while being a fan of David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed. Brian Eno and Cluster were two of the electronic acts who inspired him the most. He cites among his favorite artists: Maurice Ravel for classical music, François de Roubaix for music soundtracks and Siouxsie and the Banshees for pop music. Dunckel shared with Godin a special liking for the music of Michel Legrand, Philip Glass and Grace Jones. During his childhood, Godin was fascinated by the Beatles before later discovering the soul of Sly and the Family Stone. The duo were influenced by progressive rock pioneers Pink Floyd.
Air uses many of its studio instruments (like Moog synthesizers, the Korg MS-20, Wurlitzer and Vocoder) on stage, where their ability to improvise is more clearly highlighted. The band performs the well-known tracks from the albums live as extended or altered versions. Air often collaborates (both in the studio and live) with artists like Beth Hirsch (Moon Safari), Françoise Hardy ("Jeanne"), Jean-Jacques Perrey ("Cosmic Bird"), Gordon Tracks ("Playground Love" and "Easy Going Woman" – Gordon Tracks is a pseudonym of the French singer Thomas Mars from Phoenix), Beck (10 000 Hz Legend) and Jean-Michel Jarre ("Close Your Eyes" from Jarre's Electronica 1: The Time Machine). They also invited Dave Palmer on their 2004 tour and drummer Earl Harvin, Vincent Taurelle and Steve Jones on their 2007 tour.
Studio albums
Moon Safari (1998)
10 000 Hz Legend (2001)
Talkie Walkie (2004)
Pocket Symphony (2007)
Love 2 (2009)
Le voyage dans la lune (2012)
Soundtrack albums
The Virgin Suicides (2000)
Music for Museum (2014)
Extended plays
Premiers Symptômes (1997)
Collaborative albums
City Reading (Tre Storie Western) (2003)
Mix and remix albums
Everybody Hertz (2002)
Late Night Tales (2006)
Compilation albums
Twentyears (2016)
----------------------------------------
Air is one of the many aliases of Pete Namlook. He has been releasing ambient music under this name since the release of an eponymous album in 1993.
----------------------------------------
Japanese noise rock, Air is an alias of Koji Kurumatani first released album Wear Off in 1996.
----------------------------------------
Air is a late 90s Indonesian Pop band that became popular with their "Bintang" song.
----------------------------------------
Air was a jazz trio with its roots steeped in Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), and was formed originally in 1971. The jazz trio Air formed from within the Muhal Richard Abrams Sextet, which was active on the Chicago scene contemporaneously with the birth and growth of the AACM and groups such as the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Henry Threadgill on reeds, hubcaphone, and percussion; Fred Hopkins on bass, and Steve McCall on drums formed the trio when Threadgill was commissioned by Columbia College to score and adapt Scott Joplin's work for a performance honoring Joplin's centenary (Joplin's birth has been established now as sometime in 1868) and a rebirth of interest in the noted ragtime composer. All three men were Air signs in the zodiac, and so adopted the name.
They performed first around Chicago, while maintaining residency with Muhal Abrams group, which also featured Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre and Wallace McMillan, both reed players. The Air "brand" remained a side project until all three reunited in New York in 1975, and began recording under that name for India Navigation, Nessa, Black Saint, and Novus. The trio broke up when Steve McCall left in the early 1980s, and when Pheroan Aklaff joined in 1982, they recorded as New Air, and recorded several albums under that name, including Air Show No. 1 in 1986, which featured Cassandra Wilson on vocals. Andrew Cyrille ultimately replaced akLaff before the band eventually was superceded by the burgeoning careers of its members: Threadgill with his groups Sextett and Very Very Circus, and Hopkins as the go-to bassist for Threadgill, David Murray, and Hamiet Bluiett. McCall's health forced his retirement from touring around 1980, and the dynamic drummer and effusive and gracious man who was a cofounder of the AACM with Muhal Abrams and Fred Anderson, died of a stroke in 1989.
This Air is listed as Air (4) on Discogs and is also been identified on last.fm as Air (Fred Hopkins, Steve McCall, Henry Threadgill) and Air with Fred Hopkins, Steve Mccall, Henry Threadgill (sic: McCall's name misspelt), and possibly also other alternative spellings of the group's name exist.
----------------------------------------
Air was a psychedelic folk rock band featuring Googie and Tom Coppola, John Siegler and Mark Rosengarden. They released their first self titled album in 1971.
Suicides
Air Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Lo que sea
Lo que sea
Lo que sea
No me importa
No me importa
No me importa
No me importa
Más que tú
Más que tú
Más que tú
Más que tú
Aparte de ti
Aparte de ti
Aparte de ti
Aparte de ti
To make it a beautiful day
To make it a beautiful day
Let's make it a beautiful day
To make it a beautiful day
To make it a beautiful day
Let's make it a beautiful day
The lyrics to Air's song "Suicides" convey a sense of indifference and the singer's sole preoccupation with one person. The repetition of phrases such as "Lo que sea" and "No me importa" emphasize a lack of concern for anything else other than this individual. The Spanish phrase "Lo que sea" translates to "whatever" or "anything," suggesting that the singer is willing to do or be anything for this person. The repeated "Más que tú" (meaning "more than you") reinforces the idea that this person is of utmost importance and holds a significant place in the singer's life.
The line "Aparte de ti" (meaning "apart from you") implies that there is nothing or no one else of significance in the singer's life aside from this person. This could suggest that the relationship with this individual is all-consuming, overshadowing any other external factors. The repetition of "To make it a beautiful day/Let's make it a beautiful day" expresses a desire to create happiness or a positive experience, possibly indicating that the singer believes that their connection with this person has the power to transform any day into something beautiful.
Overall, these lyrics speak to the intensity and exclusivity of a relationship, where the singer's thoughts and actions are primarily focused on one individual, with little regard for anything else.
Line by Line Meaning
Lo que sea
Whatever it may be
No me importa
I don't care
Más que tú
More than you
Aparte de ti
Apart from you
To make it a beautiful day
In order to create a day filled with beauty
Let's make it a beautiful day
We should strive to transform it into a beautiful day
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: 章江南
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
N.Araujo
Lyrics:
Everyone dated the demise of our neighborhood from the suicides of the Lisbon girls.
People saw their clairvoyance in the wiped-out elms and harsh sunlight.
Some thought the torture tearing the Lisbon girls pointed to a simple refusal to accept the world as it was handed down to them:
So full of flaws.
But the only thing we are certain of after all these years is the insufficiency of explenation.
"Obviously doctor, you've never been a thirteen year-old girl."
The Lisbon girls were 13, Cecillia, 14, Lux, 15, Bonnie, 16, Mary, and 17, Therese.
No one could understand how Mrs. Lisbon and Mr. Lisbon, our math teacher, had produced such beautiful creatures.
From that time on, the Lisbon house began to change.
Almost every day, and even when she wasn't keeping an eye on Cecilia,
Lux would suntan on her towel wearing a swimsuit that caused the knife-sharpener to give her a 15-minute demonstration for free.
The only reliable boy who got to know Lux was Trip Fontaine
For only 18 months before the suicides had emerged from baby fat
To the delight of girls and mothers alike.
But few anticipated it would be so drastic.
The girls were pulled out of school, and Mrs. Lisbon shut the house for maximum security isolation.
The girls' only contact with the outside world was through the catalogs
They ordered that started to fill the Lisbon's mailbox with pictures of high-end fashions and brochures for exotic vacations.
Unable to go anywhere, the girls traveled in their imaginations:
To gold-tipped Siamese temples or past an old man, the leaf broom tidying the maw carpeted speck of Japan.
And Cecelia hadn't died. She was a bride in Calcutta.
Collecting everything we could of theirs, we couldn't get the Lisbon girls out of our minds, but they were slipping away.
The colours of their eyes were fading, along with exact locations of moles and dimples.
From five, they had become four, and they were all, the living and the dead, become shadows.
We would have lost them completely if the girls hadn't contacted us.
Lux was the last to go.
Fleeing from the house, we forgot to stop at the garage.
After the suicide free-for-all, Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon gave up any attempt to lead a normal life.
They had Mr. Hedly pack up the house, selling what furniture he could at a garage sale.
Everyone went just to look.
Our parents did not buy used furniture, and they certainly didn't buy furniture tainted by death.
We of course took the family photos that were put out with the trash.
Mr. Lisbon put the house on the market, and it was sold to a young couple from Boston.
It didn't matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls.
But only that we had loved them, and that they hadn't heard us calling; still do not hear us.
Calling them out of those rooms where they went to be alone for all time. alone in suicide,
Which is deeper than death,
And where we will never find the pieces to put them back together.
Toe 98
I dont think I ever heard anything as soul crushing as this
Alexander Russell
I would like this as an instrumental as well. It's a masterpiece
Komando
The bass line in this song is so simple yet so good. I remember my friend and I back when we were in our early 20s just jamming this.
N.Araujo
Lyrics:
Everyone dated the demise of our neighborhood from the suicides of the Lisbon girls.
People saw their clairvoyance in the wiped-out elms and harsh sunlight.
Some thought the torture tearing the Lisbon girls pointed to a simple refusal to accept the world as it was handed down to them:
So full of flaws.
But the only thing we are certain of after all these years is the insufficiency of explenation.
"Obviously doctor, you've never been a thirteen year-old girl."
The Lisbon girls were 13, Cecillia, 14, Lux, 15, Bonnie, 16, Mary, and 17, Therese.
No one could understand how Mrs. Lisbon and Mr. Lisbon, our math teacher, had produced such beautiful creatures.
From that time on, the Lisbon house began to change.
Almost every day, and even when she wasn't keeping an eye on Cecilia,
Lux would suntan on her towel wearing a swimsuit that caused the knife-sharpener to give her a 15-minute demonstration for free.
The only reliable boy who got to know Lux was Trip Fontaine
For only 18 months before the suicides had emerged from baby fat
To the delight of girls and mothers alike.
But few anticipated it would be so drastic.
The girls were pulled out of school, and Mrs. Lisbon shut the house for maximum security isolation.
The girls' only contact with the outside world was through the catalogs
They ordered that started to fill the Lisbon's mailbox with pictures of high-end fashions and brochures for exotic vacations.
Unable to go anywhere, the girls traveled in their imaginations:
To gold-tipped Siamese temples or past an old man, the leaf broom tidying the maw carpeted speck of Japan.
And Cecelia hadn't died. She was a bride in Calcutta.
Collecting everything we could of theirs, we couldn't get the Lisbon girls out of our minds, but they were slipping away.
The colours of their eyes were fading, along with exact locations of moles and dimples.
From five, they had become four, and they were all, the living and the dead, become shadows.
We would have lost them completely if the girls hadn't contacted us.
Lux was the last to go.
Fleeing from the house, we forgot to stop at the garage.
After the suicide free-for-all, Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon gave up any attempt to lead a normal life.
They had Mr. Hedly pack up the house, selling what furniture he could at a garage sale.
Everyone went just to look.
Our parents did not buy used furniture, and they certainly didn't buy furniture tainted by death.
We of course took the family photos that were put out with the trash.
Mr. Lisbon put the house on the market, and it was sold to a young couple from Boston.
It didn't matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls.
But only that we had loved them, and that they hadn't heard us calling; still do not hear us.
Calling them out of those rooms where they went to be alone for all time. alone in suicide,
Which is deeper than death,
And where we will never find the pieces to put them back together.
Ron G
I've never been a 13 year old girl, and she's never been a 13 year old boy. So here we are...
Tomczyk Joseph (NMI)
'Wonder who voiced that therein.
TBray
ten years on and this is still my favourite movie score - Air is just so wonderful, and this track is so full of beauty and despair.
Pauline Docherty
The music and cinematography made this movie one of my all time favourites
jak0voln
My father commited suicide and this is the "best" explenation that i have ever heard why someone would do something like that. There is a saying dead man dont ask questions, but they leave a lot of unaswerd questios. Good luck and remeber - live laugh love
K-leb
I wish there was an instrumental version of this. I don't really care for the samples from the movie's dialogue.