AIR
THE VIRGIN SUICIDES REDUX
WARNER
★★★★★
2000 was an interesting time for Air, who were seen as untouchable after the swoon of Moon Safari, with no end of Airalikes cropping up like weeds.
The duo were keen not to be confined by its success, scoring Sofia Coppola’s debut movie and applying their wide-eyed watercoloured retro-futurism, felt like a no-brainer. Recorded in a fortnight, The Virgin Suicides manages to perfectly balance the mood and atmosphere of the 1975-set film on the soft-focus Playground Love, while utilising gauzy, heady electronics on the exquisite Clouds Up and Highschool Lover. The latter is basically Playground Love replayed to pitch between the drowsy glide of disconsolate solo Beatles and Melody Nelson-era Serge Gainsbourg.