Rating: NNNNN
Scoring Sofia Coppola’s dodgy Virgin Suicides film turned out to be the best career move Air could have made. After working out both their Pink Floyd and soundtrack addictions, the French electro-pop duo have reinvented themselves on this sophomore disc. The hints of whimsical, loungey mood music of their Moon Safari debut have been clobbered by a full-throttle electronic psychedelic classic, complete with choirs, a county ballad and an awesome sense of grandeur and arrogance that even a guest spot by Beck can’t ruin. For all the indulgences, though, what makes 10,000 Hz Legend hang together is the absolute simplicity of it all. Dig beneath the layers and you’ll usually find just an acoustic guitar strumming out the melody. Pomposity never sounded this sweet.
