The Automatik

Astralwerks

Considering that Air’s 2001 release, 10,000 Hz. Legend, was one of my favorite albums of 2001 and will probably end up as a favorite of this decade, I was both thrilled and hesitant to listen to their latest offering, Talkie Walkie.

To fully understand why I am somewhat ambivalent about this album, I should explain that I’m also a big Cocteau Twins fan. During my teenage Goth phase back in the 80s, I would get peeved whenever someone would claim to love the Cocteau Twins “because their music is pretty.” Sure, Victorialand is mostly lovely, ethereal fairy clouds, but what of the downright disquieting aura of “Otterly” or the entire Garlands album (which actually gave me nightmares if I listened to it before bed)?

I liked Moon Safari but Air didn’t completely win me over until 10,000 Hz. Legend, possibly the greatest French Prog Rock Masterpiece of the last few years (and arguably the only one). It’s grandiose, creepy, and erotic. If Moon Safari is hipster Muzak, then 10,000 Hz. Legend is certainly Uneasy Listening.

With Talkie Walkie, Air continues to explore their apparent obsession with space travel, science, and sex, with impressive results. There’s nothing as masterful as the previous album’s lusty yet disturbing “Sex Born Poison” or the unearthly “Don’t Be Light,” but “Run” is something that comes quite close. I’m not sure how Air manages to make the song’s almost minimalist repetitiveness so haunting but someone needs to let Dave Grohl know that his attempts in “Times Like These” are simply not up to snuff. “Surfing on a Rocket” is excellent, sticking in your head like a particularly vivid dream, and for a song about missiles, that’s saying something.

All of the other songs are good, particularly “Another Day” and the instrumental “Mike Mills,” which, thankfully is about the director of Air’s videos and not the bassist for R.E.M. Yet Air isn’t breaking the same sort of ground they did with 10,000 Hz. Legend, although they aren’t regressing to the kitsch of Premiers Symptomes, either. It’s almost as if 10,000 Hz. Legend was a sweaty sexual encounter on a roller coaster while Talkie Walkie is the sensual bliss of lovemaking: still arousing, but not quite as daring.