Air: "Sonic Armada"

If you're anything like me, Air is a band that's made themselves hard to get too excited about in recent years. After setting the world on fire in 1998 with Moon Safari - an album that's not only a certified classic but one that I genuinely believe to be one of the greatest of all time in any genre - the French duo tread water for a few years, re-releasing their pre-Moon Safari singles before finally emerging two years later... with a soundtrack.

I don't think it's a stretch to say that comparitively few people (then or now) have ever had 10,000 Hz Legend or any of its underwhelming follow ups on constant blast, a few early apologists excepted.  The two tracks previewed from their upcoming Le Voyage Dans La Lune LP - "Seven Stars" and "Sonic Armada" - have piqued my interest for the first time in years. I'm not sure that either one quite rises up to the level of Moon Safari brilliance (and the fact that the album as a whole is a faux-soundtrack to Méliès' 1902 short film  Le Voyage Dans La Lune isn't a big selling point for me in its own right) but on the other hand it's a far cry from Talkie Walkie Pt. 2, isn't it?