It’s been a busy stretch for Air’s Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel. For the previous 20 months and counting, the French duo has been on the street celebrating the Twenty fifth anniversary of their landmark debut, Moon Safari. Technically, the album hit that milestone in 2023, however Air has by no means been a band certain by the calendar.
That 12 months noticed the discharge of a Twenty fifth-anniversary vinyl version of Moon Safari, adopted in 2024 by a deluxe field set that includes a remastered album, Dolby Atmos combine, unreleased demos, rarities, and Mike Mills’ 1998 documentary Consuming, Sleeping, Ready & Taking part in. Additionally arriving in 2024 was Blue Moon Safari, a full-album reimagining by UK producer and Frank Ocean collaborator Vegyn, launched on Document Retailer Day—simply months earlier than Air’s look on the Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony. This summer time, the pair performed a string of main festivals, together with a standout second at We Love Inexperienced in June the place Charli XCX joined them for “Cherry Blossom Lady.”
“I really feel like I’m residing in 1998. I play Moon Safari. I signal Moon Safari albums. It’s a time capsule actually,” a jet-lagged Godin tells The Hollywood Reporter from his dressing room at Mexico Metropolis’s Auditorio Nacional, the place Air has simply completed soundcheck on the 10,000-capacity venue.
They now return to North America to as soon as once more carry out Moon Safari in full, alongside choose favorites from their catalog. This consists of a few songs from their soundtrack to Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, which additionally hits the quarter-century mark this 12 months. Due on September 26 is a brand new version of the album with an analog mixture of the unique tapes and a deluxe digipak much like Moon Safari that includes a spatial combine on Blu-ray plus rarities and demos.
Air’s U.S. run opens on the Hollywood Bowl with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Sunday night time, performed by longtime collaborator Roger Neill, who organized the orchestral elements for his or her songs. It marks Air’s second time performing on the iconic venue with an orchestra, the primary being greater than 20 years in the past when Neill wrote the preparations for his or her inaugural symphonic live performance.
Touring at this tempo is uncommon for a duo identified for rigorously guarding their work-life steadiness. “In France we are saying, ‘Don’t lose your life to earn it,’” says Godin. Provides Dunckel: “If we’re like machines, it’s not good to press and to take advantage of an excessive amount of the machine. It’s a must to handle it for it to work higher.”
Regardless of having performed many of those identical cities solely a 12 months in the past, they insist the return feels completely different. The Hollywood Bowl, particularly, stays “such a magic place”—and this time, they’re decided to get pleasure from it.
What are your recollections of taking part in the Hollywood Bowl in 2004?
Nicolas Godin: I [had so much] stage fright that I didn’t benefit from the present. I didn’t stay within the second sufficient. Sunday, I can’t give a shit or consider stage fright. I will likely be within the second, and I’ll get pleasure from it from the primary minute to the final minute, no matter occurs.
How is it working with Roger Neill as arranger once more?
Godin: Roger is my favourite arranger. It’s very pleasant to arrange an orchestra with him. The orchestra classes we did for 10,000 Hz Legend in 2000 is considered one of my greatest recollections in-studio in my life. Every time we do a stay efficiency, we name him. Orchestra works effectively with us as a result of we’ve a really soundtrack-y type. We discovered music watching TV and movies, so we naturally have this type to make use of orchestras.
Has speaking your concepts develop into simpler during the last 25 years?
Godin: Yeah. As a result of we’re French, it’s not straightforward to speak with us. We’ve got an odd means of seeing issues. We’re type of in a parallel world. However Roger is doing an excellent job to know us, which is nice. However that’s what makes our type. We have been on this little city referred to as Versailles. We have been outdoors of the present enterprise strain. Once we had success, we might have moved to LA or to London, and we didn’t do it. We didn’t know the principles and we made quite a lot of errors.
What are you making ready for the Hollywood Bowl efficiency?
Godin: Many of the tracks on the albums, we’ll produce the orchestra. It’s at all times irritating for us to jot down for orchestra on the file, and once we go on stage, we don’t have that. I at all times say “on the file, we do what we would like, however on stage, we do what we will to listen to the songs as they need to be.” It’s such an enormous privilege. I want we might have an orchestra each night time.
Will there be different musicians on stage in addition to the orchestra?
Godin: We’ve got a drummer. There’s me and JB. We’ve got quite a lot of tools backstage that we management with MIDI. We’ve got quite a lot of classic gear, vocoders, synthesizers, however no one can see it. On stage, the set could be very minimal, however we management all the pieces.
Air has a robust reference to Los Angeles.
Jean-Benoît Dunckel: We’ve got been influenced by Los Angeles rather a lot due to all our musician associates. They defined to us their method to produce albums. They made us uncover some unimaginable music. It had an enormous affect on our music. We perceive Los Angeles. I believe Los Angeles is definitely an enormous studio. It has the ability to draw the artwork of the world and to rework it into one thing else, as a film or as an album or as a video.
Godin: Once we have been youngsters, we have been watching TV, and consider me, it’s very reverse to Versailles. We have been watching Starsky & Hutch, Columbo and all these TV reveals. Once we went in L.A., we felt like we have been inside our TV set. As a toddler or as a youngster, America had such tender energy all around the world. The garments and the skateboarding and the milkshake and stuff like that. If you develop up in Versailles, it was type of unique. We have been dreaming in entrance of our TV units. I’ve to say, the issue in life is it’s by no means nearly as good as on the TV set.
You have been in Los Angeles virtually precisely a 12 months in the past on what looks as if a unending Moon Safari anniversary tour. What’s spurring you to be on the street for therefore lengthy?
Dunckel: It’s a bit an excessive amount of this touring. However we love our followers. It’s very spectacular to see how the band has turned into individuals’s minds now. We see there are some new generations of people that like Air. We’ve got some younger followers, perhaps pushed by Billie Eilish or Charli XCX. We love our followers, and we need to give one of the best to them as a result of we all know it’s not going to be perpetually.
How did Blue Moon Safari, the Vegyn reimagining of the album, come about?
Godin: We needed to search out somebody who might do the entire album. We needed to have the unity within the file. And likewise, as a result of once we have been recording Moon Safari, there may be this Huge Assault album by Mad Professor. We have been in search of somebody who might do the identical factor, like another person’s imaginative and prescient. I believe it really works effectively. My favourite monitor is “New Star within the Sky.” It’s virtually higher than the unique.
You’ve additionally launched solo albums, soundtracks and music for museums. Any likelihood of a brand new Air album?
Dunckel: The three final official band albums we did, we felt that folks weren’t so excited anymore. Possibly it’s as a result of we turned too good. Our music turned too subtle, and perhaps persons are not delicate to sophistication. They need one thing else, like vitality, emotion, a unique vibe. And perhaps we misplaced our means within the course of of constructing albums, and so perhaps it was essential to cease for a number of years. Additionally, to do soundtracks and different mission tasks beside Air helped rather a lot too, as a result of we discovered so many issues with different artists or with different means of doing music. There are such a lot of albums launched yearly. It’s good to cease and perhaps to consider doing one thing new sooner or later. I don’t know.
Godin: Once I was a child, there was this huge business with all these nice information. I needed to be a part of the sport. However then I needed to compose songs, to make information, to be in that recreation. However now the sport is over due to streaming and the music enterprise, should you’re not a hip-hop artist or should you’re not an enormous famous person, there’s no extra exercise.
It’s very completely different from once we began. The entire system is gone. It’s much less enjoyable. However occurring stage and performing stay, the dream remains to be on once you try this. When the sunshine comes down and also you present up on stage, it’s nonetheless like prior to now, like after I was dreaming.