French Band Air Plays a Fantastical Tiny Desk Concert
Nicolas Godin and JB Dunckel of the French electronic band Air, along with drummer Louis Delorme, performed a fantastical Tiny Desk Concert, showcasing the band’s signature sound, first heard on their 1998 debut album Moon Safari. The musicians also demonstrated their exceptional musical prowess by playing various instruments throughout the performance.
There’s nothing easy about the laid-back cool of Air’s music. On record and for film soundtracks, the French electronic duo turns distressed dreams into symphonies plucked from cotton candy clouds — sonically light, but heavy with emotion. Yet to see Air’s members perform live, everything seems so effortless.
The set included songs from the Air catalog.
Surrounded by synths and keys bearing Air’s block-letter logo, the band opens this Tiny Desk with “Le Voyage de Pénélope,” the piano-driven, interstellar fantasia from 1998’s Moon Safari. Talkie Walkie’s “Cherry Blossom Girl,” a sweet love song with slightly sinister undertones, gets stripped back to acoustic guitar, a sparse Rhodes melody and close harmonies.
