Air

Versailles

Nicolas Godin studied architecture and Jean-Benoît Dunckel studied mathematics, and before Air they played together in a band called Orange with Alex Gopher and others. Godin began alone. Modulor Mix, a tribute to Le Corbusier recorded on a Portastudio, appeared on a compilation from the small label Source in 1995 and was reissued on Mo' Wax the next year. He then asked Dunckel, a classically trained pianist, to join him, and the pair made a run of maxi-singles for Source, among them Casanova 70 and J'ai dormi sous l'eau. The singles were collected as the EP Premiers Symptômes in 1997, and Source then asked for a whole album.

Moon Safari

Moon Safari came out on 16 January 1998 on Source and Virgin. It was recorded in Paris at Around the Golf and Gang between April and June 1997, with strings added at Abbey Road. The credits list the Solina String Ensemble on every track, with Rhodes, Korg MS-20 and Minimoog. Dunckel said Paris then had an incredible electronic music scene, that he was at home looking after their baby son, and that the duo were poor and needed Air to succeed. It did: he recalled that a month after release they were huge.

Sexy Boy reached 13 in the UK, Kelly Watch the Stars 18, and All I Need, sung by their Montmartre neighbor Beth Hirsch, 29. The album went to number 6 in the UK and is certified double platinum there. Mike Mills directed the videos, designed the sleeve, and followed the 1998 tour for his documentary Air: Eating, Sleeping, Waiting and Playing. Rolling Stone later put the album at number 93 on its list of the best albums of the 1990s, and it is credited with setting the stage for downtempo.

Film and after

Sofia Coppola had listened to Air while writing the screenplay of The Virgin Suicides, and the duo scored the film in 1999 on condition that they could approach it like an album. The Virgin Suicides appeared in February 2000 with Playground Love, sung by Thomas Mars of Phoenix under the name Gordon Tracks. Dunckel said it was recorded quickly, and it reached 14 in the UK. 10 000 Hz Legend followed on 28 May 2001, longer and more electronic, with Beck and suGar Yoshinaga of Buffalo Daughter among its collaborators. It met generally less favorable reviews than the earlier records.

For Talkie Walkie in 2004 they worked with the producer Nigel Godrich, and the album went to number 2 in the UK. Its first single was Cherry Blossom Girl, and Alone in Kyoto, from the same album, was on the soundtrack of Coppola's Lost in Translation. Pocket Symphony (2007) brought in Godrich again with Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon, and Love 2 (2009) was self-produced. Le voyage dans la lune (2012) was a film score, Music for Museum (2014) a soundtrack for the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, and the compilation Twentyears (2016) came with a world tour that ended in 2018.

Instruments and influences

Air's sound rests on a core set of instruments: bass, the Solina String Ensemble, the Rhodes and the Korg MS-20. They bring many of their studio instruments on stage and play album tracks in extended or altered versions. Dunckel grew up on classical and electronic music, above all Kraftwerk, and on the 1960s and 70s work of Serge Gainsbourg. Godin was fascinated by the Beatles as a child and later found Sly and the Family Stone and Ennio Morricone's soundtracks. Both have solo careers: Godin released Contrepoint in 2015 and Concrete and Glass in 2020, and Dunckel's solo albums include Darkel (2006) and Carbon (2022). From 2023 to 2025 Air toured Moon Safari, and a reimagining of the album by Vegyn was released in 2025. Of the 555 setlists logged for the band, 332 list songs, and Sexy Boy appears in 300 of those.