Air – “Parade”
Le Voyage Dans La Lune
Air have gone back to the moon with their latest album, Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip to the Moon). This project is different from anything the French duo of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel have recorded before. They were commissioned to do a soundtrack to accompany the incredible restoration of the 1902 film of the same name by Georges Méliès. While the group are familiar with film music (Virgin Suicides), this became a rather unique opportunity to create a whole new way to interpret the first science-fiction film ever made. Since the film is only about 14 minutes long, Air doubled the length of the soundtrack to just over 30 minutes.
It’s refreshing to see Air take on a project of such importance. Many generations have only seen a scratchy, low-quality version of this early film. To see it now in all it’s restored clarity with a fittingly futuristic yet vintage soundtrack is quite an experience. And the soundtrack stands on it’s own as a nice effort by Air. There are only a couple of tracks that feature vocals and the mood of the songs switch to the tone of the film. There is less of the pop-oriented music that has become a trend of Air in the past several years and more of the instrumental nuggets we fell in love with back in the days of their debut album, Moon Safari. Have a listen to the prog sound of “Parade” and you will get a taste of one of the many flavors Air offers on this new recording. You can grab a sneak peak of the restored film with an overview and interviews by the BBC. Buy the album to get a CD/DVD package which features the soundtrack as well as the restored film synced with the new soundtrack by the band.
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