Pocket Symphony
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:
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Pocket Symphony
- Artist: Air
- Rating:
- Release Date: March 06, 2007
- Total Time: 50:25
- Type: Lyrics are included with the album, Enhanced CD-ROM
- Genre: Electronica
Review
Ever since Moon Safari was hailed as an instant classic, Air have swung back and forth between the experimental and accessible sides that Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel united so perfectly on their debut. 10,000 Hz Legend might have been too grandiose and aggressively experimental for some Air fans, but Talkie Walkie sometimes felt as if the duo was presenting the most widely palatable version of their music possible. On Pocket Symphony, Dunckel and Godin find a balance between pretty and inventive that they haven't struck since, well, Moon Safari, even though it isn't nearly as immediate -- even by Air's standards, this is an extremely introspective and atmospheric album. It's beyond clichéd to call the duo's music filmic; nevertheless, "Space Maker" and "Night Sight" play like the album's opening titles and ending credits, bracketing a set of songs that are sadder and wiser than anything Air has done since The Virgin Suicides (particularly "Lost Message," which could have easily appeared on that soundtrack). Made around the same time Dunckel and Godin were working with Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon (who also appear here) on Charlotte Gainsbourg's 5:55 and Dunckel was recording his solo project Darkel, Pocket Symphony could be seen as part of a loose trilogy; if so, it's more in line with 5:55's moody romanticism than Darkel's hyper-pop (where, apparently, any lighter-hearted tracks along the lines of Talkie Walkie's "Alpha Beta Gaga" or "Surfing on a Rocket" ended up).However, Pocket Symphony doesn't feel as serenely untouchable as some of Air's previous work, and these darker cracks and wrinkles give it character. These songs are often unsettling, but gently so, like dreams that are still vivid but hard to explain upon waking. The Neil Hannon-sung "Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping" is the most obvious example of Pocket Symphony's fever dream atmosphere, but there are plenty of others: "Photograph," a quintessentially sensuous Air track, gives the impression of something a little sinister occurring just out of frame; "Redhead Girl" is a lush meditation on unrequited love so paralyzing that time itself stops. The entire album deals with toxic love and its fallout, but Dunckel and Godin alternate between romanticizing heartbreak and showing just how dreary it can be -- although, skilled mood-makers that they are, they manage to make dreary sound pretty romantic, too. The deceptively delicate single "Once Upon a Time" darkens its fairy tale imagery with the fact that once upon a time might be never, while the outstanding "One Hell of a Party," which features Jarvis Cocker on vocals, presents a breakup as a hangover (a sentiment Cocker also explored brilliantly on Pulp's This Is Hardcore).
Pocket Symphony pairs Air with producer Nigel Godrich, which is an inspired choice -- not just because Godrich has a similarly atmospheric touch and adds lots of fascinating sonic details, but because he helps Air keep the album intimate, not polished into a state of distant perfection. "Left Bank," which blends humming with a cello and captures Godin's acoustic guitar so clearly it sounds like he's strumming it behind you, is a gorgeous example of how well this collaboration works. The Japanese influence on Talkie Walkie and Air's music for Lost in Translation is deepened on Pocket Symphony, with shamisen and koto (which Godin spent a year learning to play) adding to its ethereal beauty, particularly on "Mer du Japon." Musically and thematically, this is some of Air's most elegant, mature music; it does what it does so compellingly that any attempts to be "poppy" would miss the point. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi
| Pocket Symphony (1994 Album by Experimental Audio Research) | |
| Pocket Symphony [Bonus Track] (2007 Album by Air) |
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Pocket Symphony
This article is about the album by Air. For the album by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, see Pocket Symphonies for Lonesome Subway Cars.
| Pocket Symphony | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Air | ||||
| Released | March 5, 2007 (UK) March 6, 2007 (U.S.) |
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| Genre | Electronica, downtempo, chill out | |||
| Length | 52:30 | |||
| Label | Virgin, Astralwerks, Source | |||
| Producer | Air, Nigel Godrich | |||
| Air chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AbsolutePunk | (72%) [1] |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
| Entertainment.ie | [3] |
| Filter | (82%) [4] |
| IGN | (8.8/10) [5] |
| NME | (2/10) [6] |
| Pitchfork Media | (6.6/10) [7] |
| Rave | [8] |
| Slant | [9] |
| This Is Fake DIY | [10] |
Pocket Symphony is the fifth full-length album by French duo Air. The album was released in March 2007 and features collaborations with Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon.[11] Pocket Symphony also incorporates some of the Japanese instruments Godin recently learned to play from an Okinawan master musician: the koto (also referred to as a Japanese floor harp) and the three-string, banjo-like shamisen. However, a press release claims that "conventional instruments continue to play a great role" in the duo's music.[12] The album features art by Xavier Veilhan.
The first single from this album, "Once Upon a Time", can be heard on the group's MySpace page.[13]
Pocket Symphony debuted on the U.S. Billboard 200 at number 40, with about 17,000 copies sold in its first week.[14]
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Contents
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Track listing
All songs written by JB Dunckel and Nicolas Godin, except "One Hell of a Party", lyrics by Jarvis Cocker; "Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping", lyrics by Neil Hannon.
- "Space Maker" – 4:02
- Nicolas Godin – bass, guitar and solina
- JB Dunckel – piano, synthesizers & vibraphone
- Joey Waronker – drums and percussion
- Strings arranged and conducted by Joby Talbot
- Nicolas: We wanted to have this idea of the album literally as a pocket symphony so you imagine you’re going into the opera and the lights go down and then this starts. It’s not the greatest song on the album, but it’s the best one to start with.
- Jean-Benoit: This was a joke title from pace maker. Hilarious, huh?
- "Once Upon a Time" – 5:02
- JB Dunckel – vocals, piano, synthesizers and glockenspiel
- Nicolas Godin – guitar, synth bass, drum machine and shamisen
- Magic Malik – flute
- Tony Allen – drums
- Nicolas: It’s a story of boys meet girl. A fairy tale. Jean-Benoit is singing. I don’t like my voice, really.
- Jean-Benoit: We like the fairy tales.
- "One Hell of a Party" – 4:02
- Jarvis Cocker – vocals
- JB Dunckel – synthesizers and samples
- Nicolas Godin – piano, koto, shamisen and bass
- Joey Waronker – drums and percussion
- Nicolas: Well, you’d have to talk to Jarvis about the lyrics. It’s the kind of song where we really wanted to experiment with the instruments. And I played the piano exactly the way that Sakamoto would play on it.
- Jean-Benoit: This is the sort of party where you are older and drunk and you are looking at the mess and wondering what happened. So we wanted the track to be very empty, skeletal and dark.
- "Napalm Love" – 3:27
- Nicolas Godin – bass and guitars, drum machine
- JB Dunckel – vocals, piano and synthesizers
- Nicolas: It’s about the words you use to talk about love. If you list all the words that are used to talk about love they are often horrible, like falling in love, burning for someone, like it’s really destructive.
- "Mayfair Song" – 4:18
- JB Dunckel – piano, arp percussions, xylophone, voice pad and synthesizers
- Nicolas Godin – bass, drum machine and synthesizers
- Nicolas: It’s a song we wrote here (Mayfair Studios) while Nigel was mixing. So we set up a little studio in the other room, we were recording. When we did Premiers Symptomes we used to do a bassline, get a vibe and that was it. We forgot how to do that and we wanted to get back to that simplicity. Nigel told us: “Do what you’re good at”.
- Jean-Benoit: We made this track very quickly, it only took one day.
- "Left Bank" – 4:07
- Nicolas Godin – guitars and vocals
- JB Dunckel – synthesizers, drum machine and vocals
- Nicolas: This is a song I wrote in a hotel room after a lovely weekend with a girl. And then Monday morning she left without saying a word and I wrote it on my guitar, very simple. Crazy French girls!
- Jean-Benoit: Nicolas and I are always talking about this non-existent girl that we want to meet, that we’d like to have in our bed, the one who left, recently. In our minds we say to her, “come back I love you, I’ve been a naughty boy”. This is our obsession right now.
- "Photograph" – 3:51
- JB Dunckel – rhodes, piano, synthesizers and vocals
- Nicolas Godin – bass, guitar, glockenspiel and tambourine
- Joey Waronker – drums and percussion
- Magic Malik – flute
- Nicolas: Very cinematic music. When we started with Premiers Symptomes we really liked Blaxploitation soundtrack music; that groove, suspenseful music and we wanted to go back to this. We’ve come back to this grooving thing that we had lost.
- Jean-Benoit: The original title of this was "Message For A Rock Star" and the idea was this: ok you are a rock star and God is also a fan of yours and he wants to have your autograph. You are such a rock star that even God wants you.
- "Mer du Japon" – 3:04 (English: Sea of Japan)
- Nicolas Godin – bass, guitars, koto, tambourine and drums
- JB Dunckel – piano, synthesizers and vocals
- Nicolas: Haiku music. J’ai perdu la raison dans la mer du Japon. I lost my mind in the sea of Japan. Just one simple line.
- Jean-Benoit: When you go to Los Angeles or Japan there is something special in the air, and we wanted to capture this special Pacific touch. It’s almost like a perfume. It sounds a little bit like a French band Taxi Girl, Mirwais’ first band. We were big fans of this band and there is a similar feel in the production.
- "Lost Message" – 3:32
- JB Dunckel – piano and synthesizers
- Nicolas Godin – bass, guitar, memory moog, koto and drum machine
- Nicolas: It’s so Satie and so French. It sounds so different.
- Jean-Benoit: In my mind I see a sort of fresh modern Emmanuelle soundtrack. It’s really erotic.
- "Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping" – 3:35
- Neil Hannon – vocals
- Nicolas Godin – guitars and koto
- JB Dunckel – piano, synth bass, vibraphone
- Strings arranged by David Richard Campbell
- Nicolas: This is the Neil Hannon collaboration. I love this song so much. We wrote this for Charlotte.
- "Redhead Girl" – 4:33
- JB Dunckel – vocals, rhodes, synthesizers, piano and voice pad
- Nicolas Godin – guitars, bass and memory moog, wind chimes, glockenspiel and koto
- Nicolas: This is my muse. Except she’s not a redhead. It’s very conceptual.
- Jean-Benoit: It’s about Perfume, the book by Patrick Süskind, it’s about the cliches that redheads have a special smell. It’s like a legend.
- "Night Sight" – 4:16
- JB Dunckel – rhodes and synthesizers
- Strings arranged and conducted by Joby Talbot
- Nicolas: This is my favourite track on the album. It’s very conceptual, because you have this Rhodes with four notes and a synth with seven notes and they have these circular patterns that occasionally merge. It’s a massage for the mind!
- Jean-Benoit: We wanted to do a sort of modern track with an irregular pattern on the keyboard. It’s totally improvised. It sounds like a slow chemical reaction, like oxidisation.
- Bonus tracks
- "The Duelist" (iTunes or OpenDisc bonus track) – 4:40
- "Crickets" (iTunes pre-order bonus track) – 3:32
- "Time Capsule" (Japan or OpenDisc bonus track) - 4:20
Personnel
- Tony Allen – drums
- David Richard Campbell – string arrangement
- Jarvis Cocker – vocals
- JB Dunckel – synthesizers, piano, vocals, rhodes, voice pad, vibraphone, synth bass, samples, drum machine, arp percussions, xylophone, glockenspiel
- Nicolas Godin – guitars, bass, koto, drum machine, shamisen, memory moog, tambourine, glockenspiel, vocals, piano, synthesizers, synth bass, solina, drums, wind chimes
- Neil Hannon – vocals
- Magic Malik – flute
- Joby Talbot – string arrangement, conducting
- Joey Waronker – drums, percussion
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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References
- ^ http://absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=220463
- ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r949668
- ^ http://entertainment.ie/reviews/review.asp?ID=4933&subcat=CD
- ^ http://www.filter-mag.com/index.php?id=14016&c=3
- ^ http://uk.music.ign.com/articles/770/770680p1.html
- ^ http://www.nme.com/reviews/air/8248
- ^ http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/reviews/albums/9975-pocket-symphony/
- ^ http://www.ravemagazine.com.au/content/view/2750/180/
- ^ http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=1071
- ^ http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/5195.html
- ^ "Air and Jarvis team up". NME. 2006-11-17. http://www.nme.com/news/air/25095. Retrieved 2006-11-19.
- ^ "Pocket Symphony press release" (doc). Archived from the original on 2007-01-24. http://web.archive.org/web/20070124002041/http://www.pocket-symphony.com/img/pocketsymphonypr.doc. Retrieved 2007-01-29.
- ^ Air MySpace page
- ^ Katie Hasty, "Notorious B.I.G. Scores Another 'Great' On The Billboard 200", Billboard.com, March 14, 2007.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony". Australian Recording Industry Association. Hung Medien. http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Air&titel=Pocket+Symphony&cat=a. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony" (in German). IFPI Austria. Hung Medien. http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Air&titel=Pocket+Symphony&cat=a. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. http://www.ultratop.be/nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Air&titel=Pocket+Symphony&cat=a. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony" (in French). Ultratop. Hung Medien. http://www.ultratop.be/fr/showitem.asp?interpret=Air&titel=Pocket+Symphony&cat=a. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony". IFPI Denmark. Hung Medien. http://danishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Air&titel=Pocket+Symphony&cat=a. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Hung Medien. http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Air&titel=Pocket+Symphony&cat=a. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "European Albums – Week of March 24, 2007". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. http://www.billboard.com/#/charts/european-albums?chartDate=2007-03-24. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony". IFPI Finland. Hung Medien. http://finnishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Air&titel=Pocket+Symphony&cat=a. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Hung Medien. http://lescharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Air&titel=Pocket+Symphony&cat=a. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air, Pocket Symphony" (in German). Media Control. charts.de. http://www.charts.de/album.asp?artist=Air&title=Pocket+Symphony&country=de. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Top 75 Artist Album, Week Ending 8 March 2007". Irish Recorded Music Association. Chart-Track. http://www.chart-track.co.uk/index.jsp?c=p%2Fmusicvideo%2Fmusic%2Farchive%2Findex_test.jsp&ct=240002&arch=t&lyr=2007&year=2007&week=10. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony". Federation of the Italian Music Industry. Hung Medien. http://italiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Air&titel=Pocket+Symphony&cat=a. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "エールのアルバム売り上げランキング [Air album sales ranking]" (in Japanese). Oricon. http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/46017/ranking/cd_album/. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony". Verdens Gang. Hung Medien. http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Air&titel=Pocket+Symphony&cat=a. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony". Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa. Hung Medien. http://portuguesecharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Air&titel=Pocket+Symphony&cat=a. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony". Productores de Música de España. Hung Medien. http://spanishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Air&titel=Pocket+Symphony&cat=a. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony". Media Control. Hung Medien. http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Air&titel=Pocket+Symphony&cat=a. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony". Media Control. Hung Medien. http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Air&titel=Pocket+Symphony&cat=a. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Air – Pocket Symphony". Official Charts Company. Chart Stats. http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=35260. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ a b c "Pocket Symphony – Air". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. http://www.billboard.com/#/album/air/pocket-symphony/825912. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "Classement Albums – année 2007" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. http://www.disqueenfrance.com/fr/pag-259376-Classements-Annuels.html?year=2007&type=2. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ "2007 Year End Charts – Top Electronic Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on 7 May 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080507143248/http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/charts/yearendcharts/chart_display.jsp?f=Top+Electronic+Albums&g=Year-end+Albums. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
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