Air
“POCKET SYMPHONY”
This duo created a handful of tuneful, unusually warm synth-pop tracks during the past 10 years. Air now fancy themselves somber singer-songwriters in the Nick Drake vein. When you rouse yourself from the dreamless slumber “Pocket Symphony” instantly evokes, two realizations set in. First, you know you’re in trouble when the colorless Nigel Godrich (“the sixth member of Radiohead!”) gets top billing. Secondly, avoid any album where the members are trumpeting their new appreciation for Far Eastern classical instruments–especially when the members are two fashion plates from Paris. Still, at least one track comes close to Air’s past glories: the gorgeous “Left Bank.”
RATING: 2 SOUND LEVELS
ALSO IN STORES TUESDAY
Mary Chapin Carpenter, “The Calling” ; Korn, “MTV Unplugged”; Son Volt, “Search”; William Tell, “You Can Hold Me Down”
