Love 2

by Air

It all begins with a distorted bassline, coupled with spy-movie synths... wait a minute, isn't this meant to be Air? The gallic duo who have made a career out of repackaging the same chilled-out, Sunday-afternoon trip-pop found on their now classic Moon Safari, surely they haven't actually done a 180 degree turn and spun off in new... oh, no - wait... there are the familiar pianos, the innocent, breathy vocals - this is the Air we know and love, after all. All is well in the world again.

Air have never been ones to challenge the music industry with avant-garde experimentalism; they've always believed that pop music works best when it's not over-complicated, stuffed full of different sounds and ideas that more often than not end up battling each other for supremecy in the mix. Throughout their 15-year career, the duo have excelled in working within their musical circumferance, never straying too far from the template laid down by the likes of 'All I Need', 'You Make It Easy' and 'Cherry Blossom Girl'. While there is the odd curveball on Love 2 (the excellent surf-electro of 'Be A Bee' in particular), it doesn't try anything overly tricksy - but in the opening 'Do The Joy', the slow-burning 'So Light Is Her Footfall' and single 'Sing Sang Sung' Air, have continued to add to their excellent back catalogue with their signature, synth-led pop sound.

Love 2 may be a little too sickly sweet for some, but for others Air still provide a fantastic outlet for good pop songs away from the wider machinations of the 'create-a-band' industry machine. And while describing Love 2 as sounding 'like an Air album' is all anyone will need to know about this, familiarity rarely sounds so agreeable.