Surface to Air: Building Talkie Walkie
Words: Sue Apfelbaum
Photo: CAVE
"The banjo is very weird for me... I have a weird relationship with the banjo," admits Nicolas Godin, one half of the French group Air. "You know the movie Deliverance? When I saw that when I was a kid I was, like, whoa!" The chilling allusion to backwoods, cinematic realism comes in stark contrast to the fantastical, otherworldly music of Air, but it's telling that Godin and partner JB Dunckel would be compelled to include the Appalachian instrument on their third studio album, Talkie Walkie. The foreignness of its sound and the filmic world through which it was introduced were sources of inspiration that meld harmoniously with Air's retro-futuristic vibe. "We love country-western," continues Godin, "because for us it's like Mars... [the music] is very emotional because it's related to when we were kids. On French TV there were only three channels and each Tuesday, there was a cowboy movie, so we heard all these great soundtracks. When you are a French boy in the suburbs of Paris, in Versailles, and you look at that, you think, my god, it's crazy..." The innocence of discovery is essential to Air and its exploration of feelings and sound.
Read the full article in the January/February issue (Vol. 7 No. 1).
Vision Air
In addition to creating a rich auditory world for its fans, Air has also inspired a visual landscape of groundbreaking music videos created by some visionary collaborators.
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Dir: Mike Mills
The illustrated then animated video featuring the safari-hunters JB Dunckel and Nicolas Godin, continued the scenarios featured on the cover and in the liner notes of Moon Safari. The "sexy boy" in question is a lovable chimp in an "I (heart) Moon" T-shirt.
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Director: Mike Mills
The song, dedicated to Charlie's Angels character Kelly Garrett, is set to a ping pong tournament played out by a blonde and brunette, both with flowing hair and slow-mo action poses in the style of the '70s TV series.
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Dir: Mike Mills
A skateboarding couple talks to director Mike Mills about true love. Less a music video than a documentary, the song acts as a soundtrack to this intimate portrait of teen-aged romance (and the power of the interaction reputedly sparked Mills' desire to direct narrative work).
Le Soleil Est Prés de Moi
Dir: Mike Mills
Culled from the documentary film Eating Sleeping Waiting and Playing, the
black-and-white video depicts life on the road during Air's first American
tour.
Playground Love
Dir: Roman Coppola & Sofia Coppola
Roman Coppola created the video using footage from The Virgin Suicides and
unified it with a singing wad of chewing gum. Mustachioed Dunckel and
Godin cameo as chaperones at the school dance.
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Dir: Alex & Martin
In the futuristic landscape modeled by Ora-ïto, a couple gets ready for work in their house of the future, only things go awry. The video is the only one for Air directed by Alex Courtes and partner Martin Fougerole. Perhaps it's because, as Godin remembers, "He tried to take my Swedish girlfriend when we were 16..."
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Dir: Antoine Bardou-Jacquet
Machines malfunction when trying to create the perfect female, portrayed by French model Audrey Marnay. Air has a long history with Bardou-Jacquet. "He's a genius, really," says Dunckel. "He's really, really good. I don't say that because he's a friend of ours, but because he's really different."
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Dir: Jean-François Moriceau and Petra Mrzyk
Made from animated drawings, the video features the absurdist and psychedelic handmade work of artists Moriceau and Mryzk. Dunckel recalls, "They are very cool. They are a boy and girl from France, they live in New York." Both Godin and Dunckel love this video.
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Dir: Kris Kramski
The first video for Air's third album, Talkie Walkie, was shot in LA by porn director Kris Kramski. Deploying a split-screen technique, the story revolves around the Hollywood dreams and contrasting reality of protagonist Kelli, a small-town girl looking to make it big in a tough city.
