Pocket Symphony

---

---

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Truthfully it's been some time since Air's Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunkel could truthfully be said to be pop musicians, but their fourth album Pocket Symphony journeys further from the pop firmament than ever before. Slow, stately songs built around the tick of electronic drums, the trill of vintage synthesisers, and somewhat unexpectedly, some traditional Japanese instruments – the koto, a Japanese floor harp, and the banjo-like shamisen – it's an album apparently more concerned with texture and mood than crafting catchy pop fromage.

Certainly, it often does it well: 'Mayfair Song' locks into a dazed, lightly cosmic groove oddly reminiscent of Talk Talk circa Spirit Of Eden, all purposeful piano and moody, drifting bass, while the blissful 'Photograph' sees angelic vocals submerged within a tide of shimmering strings and trilling chimes. For the most part, vocals are fairly sparse, but there are two guest spots: the first from Jarvis Cocker, who murmurs like Scott Walker with a sore head through 'Hell Of A Party', and the second from The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon, who invests 'Somewhere Between Waking And Sleeping' with an impressive melancholy soul. At first, it sounds slight, but carry Pocket Symphony with you, and feel it slowly work its magic. –-Louis Pattison

---

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-09-15 rating:
Patchy
It seems that every alternate AIR album is a good one. Talkie Walkie was a lovely album but Pocket Symphony leaves me cold. There are perhaps around three tracks on this that are good - Once Upon a Time, Photograph and Night Sight are standouts, but the collaborations are pretty dire with Jarvis Cocker's Party getting my vote for weakest effort on this album.

My advice would be to save your money on this one and go out and buy Charlotte Gainsbourg's 5:55 album, which was written and produced by AIR, and is more of a melodical AIR effort than this patchy piece of work.

---

review by: date: 2007-11-30 rating:
2 or 3 songs, and the rest...?
A few years ago Air did a song called "Don't Be Light". It wasn't very Air-esque but it hit the spot. Listening to Air in 2007 I just wish they'd follow their own advice. There are 2 or 3 good songs on this album (e.g. Left Bank, Mer du Japon) but there are a lot of very light tracks which I would actually hesitate to call "songs", because they're little more than programmed beats and keyboard sounds (i.e. they forgot to add a melody). It sounds to me as if the band were well and truly on auto-pilot whilst doing some of this album. And the less said about the Jarvis Cocker song the better (simply awful!).

---

review by: casalingua date: 2007-10-11 rating:
Smooth and refined
To be brief, it's a wholly satisfactory album. There's nothing clunky or abrasive here yet it's a record which has plenty of understated energy.
Joby Talbot who normally works with Neil Hannon from Divine Comedy adds some of his string-arranging magic. Only Jarvis Cocker's rather laboured vocals fail to really add much and seem to stand to far out from the mix to work as well as they might. To be honest, you don't buy an Air record for the text or for flashy vocals. Jarvis C is trying to hard.
Air offer you a laid back techno-melancholy. It's the instruments and melodic elements that do the work. The vocals take back seat, at least until Jarvis is let in front of the Sennheiser. Once past Mr Cocker's overwrought exhalations, the album revs up with "Napalm Love" which, for Air, sounds almost aggressive. And it stays good to the last drop.
So, in short, this is good one, a particularly good one.

---

review by: gordonjohnston3 date: 2007-06-19 rating:
Superb
Suddenly you will find yourself at the end of this album wondering where the time went. There are no jarring moments of pop and no unsuccessful experimentation.

Even the inclusion of Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon is unobtrusive.

This record may not grab on first listen but don't let that fool you. It is consistent and enjoyable with no self indulgence that I've detected so far.

Perhaps this album should have been called, simply, AIR since that is what it feels like.

This is their best album, Consistent, entertaining and relaxing.

Enjoy


review by: Nec Aspera Terrent date: 2007-05-06 rating:
A Great Return
"Pocket Symphony" does not immediately stand out as an Air album and is clearly a break from their normal style.

Air appear to have moved away from the electronic style of previous albums and, although this album does bear similarity to "Talkie Walkie" rather than "Moon Safari", this does stand out as a break from the instantly recognisable sound of Air.

No tracks stand out as being a future release to the charts, unlike on previous albums.

"Pocket Symphony" is more likely to appeal to fans of Air as a group and of "Talkie Walkie" than those who know Air from the singles from "Moon Safari".

---

Similar products

Neon Bible
Moon Safari
Talkie Walkie
Sound of Silver
Late Night Tales

---

Similar categories

Music . Special Features . Bargain CDs
Music . Styles . Pop . General AAS
Music . Styles . Rock . General AAS
Music . Styles . Dance & Electronic . Bestsellers
Music . Styles . Dance & Electronic . Ambient
Music . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . CD . CD Album

---