Disco de Air: “The Virgin Suicides (Sdtk)”

Air's latest offering has a significantly darker texture than either "Moon Safari" or "Premiers Symptomes". This could be due partly to the dark nature of the film this album constitutes the score for. Only one track off this disc features vocals (though several more have voice samples). This is the type of music from Air that I personally prefer. Many of the songs are also quite brief, leaving one wanting more. Thats really the only problem with this disc. The thirteen songs combine to run only about fourty minutes. Some of the songs wind up feeling underdeveloped. That being said the sounds and textures are uniformly brilliant. Comparing the sonic palette (and the whole album for that matter) to Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" is justifiable. I don't think this album will bring Air legions of new fans and for first time buyers "Moon Safari" is still a better introduction, but for anyone remotely into the duo this album is an essential buy.

Air's ambient, dreamy and incredibly mood-setting score for the film The Virgin Suicides opens with the soulful "Playground Love," what I still believe to be one of the best pop songs of the last five years. It combines the dark ambience of the later songs with a pop sensibility and the result is a song that, if it was played on the radio, would be one of the greatest pop songs of recent memory. It's more or less smooth jazz with string synths to compliment it. The gentle loungy xylophone and saxophone make this the best chill-out song with a pop structure. Immediately, Air seems to be showing a Pink Floyd influence, one that reoccurs throughout the whole score.

The rest of the album keeps a similar dark theme, with Air, this time, switching off from their beloved synthesizers to more traditional instruments at times. Many songs are built over loops of synth sounds, with the song building slowly, and changing, until it ends up back where it started. Such is the case with "Clouds Up," "Cemetary Party" and "Dark Messages." "Cemetary Party" consists of a plodding footstep sounding synth with a organ, and a dreamily played guitar. This song also shows off the capabilities specific synthesizer, i forget the name of it, but Kraftwerk used one of the first versions of it on Radioactivity. It imitates the sound of a choir singing, and so it gives this incredible half-real half-surreal sound of what could be human voices, but you're not sure. Because I immediately tie in the sound with its use on Radioactivity, it always sends a chilling sensation through my body. It's somewhat ominous.

As i said, the rest of the album pretty much sustains a mood that's somewhere between mystery and suspense, between clean and sleazy. The Pink Floyd influence is so big that "Highschool Lover" sounds like it was taken right out of "The Great Gig In The Sky." The results of this record couldn't be predicted from Air's somewhat friendlier Moon Safari. They've matured in a good way. This is a film score that should be a trend-setter. Personally, i haven't heard another score that sounds like this, both electronic and traditional and just so.. so... moody! It adds up to be one of the best and most cohesive film scores i've ever heard.

This is definitely not 'Moon Safari'. However, it perfectly illustrates the fact that 'Moon Safari' in its best moments is not the only ground that AIR can work on and succeed. It's a perfect soundtrack - each time it is being listened to, a new movie is created, as intense, coherent and splendid as this music actually is. BUY this CD if you're willing to escape from the stupidity, banality and commerciality of contemporary pop music. In addition, given the conspicuous talent of the French duo, one can't feel that their muisc is an entire fabrication. DON'T BUY this CD, if you're looking for catchy tunes that you'll be humming during the day. It's a different story. Standout trax: Playground Love, Highschool Lover, Empty House, Dead Bodies.

This CD is simply amazing, a breakthrough. It's hard to find a CD that really creates a mood. The music is final, despondent, accepting. It transports you. What's best is track #6, suicide underground. It's a nutshell plotline of the movie in voiceover, with electronica trembling beneath. Unusual, but it works.

And, surprisingly, it makes for fantastic study music. Who knew?

As any good soundtrack should be, Air's score to the Virgin Suicides plays a main role in the film, setting the mood and atmosphere. But, unlike most soundtracks, it has a life all of its own that possess tremendous musical power and beauty. Each track is an incredible showcase of how music can really take the listener into another realm. My only complaint would be that there should be more music!