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Air
"The Virgin Suicides: Original Motion Picture Score"
Already on their third album in three years, the French electronica duo Air are proving themselves to be one of the most consistent and surprising acts in their field.
Their debut, "Moon Safari," is an indelible voyage to the cosmos, and their follow-up, "Premiers Symptomes," was similarly ethereal and lovely, though it treaded little new ground. This new effort is a soundtrack to the upcoming film "The Virgin Suicides."
This soundtrack has received specific acclaim in a few reviews of the film. The Onion stated that it aided the movie "immeasurably" and loaned the movie a proper outlet for its "hypnotic, unsettling, and evocative" design. That description is a perfect one of the palettes that Air creates.
The duo's inspirations are evolving from the more Bacharachian stylings they've previously displayed. Their attitude is a bit more cocksure, as evidenced by some of this album's more brazen whims, curiously reminiscent of the early punk-rock era. None of those inspirations are extremely well-defined, though, and that is a credit to the duo.
"Dead Bodies" is at once the poppiest and most haunting piece Air has ever created. It begins as an unbridled moment of teen-age ecstasy and evolves into a deathly, rigorous head trip. "Playground Love," sung by Gordon Tracks, is a sultry lyrical oddity, beginning "I'm a high school lover/And you're my favorite flavor."
Most of the soundtrack is instrumental, but when it arrives upon a vocalized moment...